All Alone and Blue juried into Sacred Threads 2011

I am pretty sure I have never posted this quilt on my blog before, either.
I am showing this one today because it has been juried into the Sacred Threads 2011 Show in Washington, DC. Both of my entries were accepted!

This piece was inspired by the unique style of artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. His use of color and line influenced the development of this image depicting the loneliness and isolation engulfing a person in the depths of depression. A plasticized wrapping material called Tyvek® was painted with pigments, cut into shapes and placed on top of the fabric sandwich of black cotton, and polyester batting. After details were stitched by machine with bright polyester and cotton thread, the Tyvek® was melted slightly with an iron to create texture and depth.

Previously exhibited at the Plains Art Museum Exhibit: Fiber for Thought October 25, 2007 – January 13, 2008

The size of this piece is 36 x 36 ½”

I made this in 2004, and I still really love it. It usually hangs in the hallway so I can see it daily (although all the artwork is in storage while we renovate our home).

Seeing it today, I realize I really do need to try another piece or two in this style.

P.S. Even though it is essentially about depression - I do not suffer from depression, rather - I spent many years of my career working with individuals struggling with depressive symptoms, among other things. I am very aware of the impact of this disease.

Paintbrush Piecers Quilt Talk

"Firestorm"
I received a very nice invitation to visit the Paintbrush Piecers Quilt Guild in Cody, Wyoming to give a talk.

"Springtime in the City"
I focused on several different techniques I use.

"Crystal Lake Trout"
I no longer work with commercially printed fabric. Instead, I purchase big rolls of cotton broadcloth and apply my own color and printing.

"Strata"
I used paints for all of the art quilts shown in this blog entry.

"Thunder II"

"White Picket Fences" - this piece is going to Sacred Threads."Firestorm" - another version. The trees are Tyvek.

"Woods"

Powell Rotary Art Fling Acceptance!

Three Trout
I have just received notification that my work has been juried into the Art Show and Auction sponsored by the Powell Rotary International. The auction will be held on March 7th in Powell, Wyoming.

Expressionism

"Firestorm V" is part of a new show now hanging in Elements Gallery.

Last week, my mother and I drove up to Whitefish, MT for a visit with my sister, Jackie.

We added a couple of other activities to our agenda, since we were in that part of the state. My mother wanted to get Flathead cherries and so we drove down to Bigfork, where we also stopped in at ARTfusion - a fun little gallery that shows my work. It was a nice opportunity to meet the new owner and have a brief chat.

We were discussing some of the various artists and she said something that has really impacted my feeling about my work. She stated that she thought my work was "Expressionist". At the time, I didn't know exactly what that meant, but when I got home, I googled the term and did some research.

By golly, I think she is right! On one level, it seems so silly to have to define my art, but on the other, it is extremely validating and reassuring. Ever since I have left my career as a School Psychologist, I have felt somewhat disoriented about my identity. It has been a remarkable part of the journey to realize how important it is in our culture (and internally) to have some sort of terms with which to identify what it is that you do. . . .

I have been going through a lot of shifts in the self identity area lately. Suddenly becoming middle aged, a grandmother, self employed, a landlord, and a small business owner (none of these things in my life plan!) , have somehow been harder as I have felt somewhat adrift without an official "career" that I could talk about in sound bites.

Lately, I have looked at other quilt artists work with a jealous eye - wishing that I could work in a more interesting style . . . It has been hard for me to accept the fact that my work is not really abstract. Nor is it realistic. It seems that I always have to include some sort of figures, images from nature or symbolism . . . but beyond that - my visual imagery and techniques cover a broad range. I know I should not have to justify what I am compelled to do, but somehow it seems to be necessary at this point in my life.

How wonderfully refreshing and uplifting to discover that I do indeed have a consistent style when it is put into the context of Expressionism. This has done so much for my self esteem and confidence. Thank you, Kathy!

Gelatin, Tyvek and Discharge

Oh, and screen printing, too.More messing around in the studio. Yesterday was my last day for a while. House guests coming today and tomorrow is my day to work in the gallery.
A few days ago, I made a couple of gelatin prints on black Kona using Lumiere metallic paint and leaves from the snowball bush.

I decided to try adding a couple of screen printed chickadees, but they almost disappear on the black background. (and I really can't decide whether that is a good thing or not)

Then, I decided to try adding a couple of Tyvek leaves - painted in metallics. Not sure they really enhanced the design, but they do add visual interest.

The whole thing is mounted on a piece of discharged cotton that has been languishing in a drawer for several years. All the stitching has been done with a copper Supertwist.

I really like working with these muted shades, but I have discovered it is something I can do more comfortably in summer when the colors outside are vivid and rich. In winter - I find myself craving color so much that all my work tends toward over the top brightness.

And this piece is actually a bit too mushy for me - I find it takes my eyes a couple of seconds to find the details. How about you? My imagery generally tends to be much more distinguished by contrast. This has been a good exercise for me. Big stretch. I am contemplating adding another leaf near the center - well - kind of south and west of the one in the center. . . something to decide later. I am going to set it aside for a while.

Interesting Combo

Springtime Chickadees

I've been messing around with some new ideas the past few days.

This piece began as a gelatin plate print of chokecherrie leaves. I was inspired by the spring green colors out my window.
I painted some Tyvek with yellow, blue, and red pigments to get a brownish shade. This was reverse appliqued to the gelatin leaf print. Next, I stitched loosely around the leaf prints, outlining them - just enough stitching to help the viewer recognize the leaf shapes. I did not want the stitching to overpower the delicate details in the leaf prints.

Lastly, I screen printed some chickadee prints onto some beige hand dyed fabric. After fusible web was applied to the back, these were cut out and placed on the branches. I covered the whole thing with parchment paper and used my hand held Rowenta iron to carefully fuse the birds, while also melting the Tyvek to create an interesting texture to the bark.

I am not sure, but this piece seems kind of dull to me. I am not thrilled with the colors, but think it might be successful done in fall colors. Or maybe something completely unnatural. It has been a good exercise for me. Always interesting to find out whether or not something looks as good in real life as it does in my head as an idea.

Tulle and Tyvek

This representation of a wildfire started as a piece of 100% cotton - handpainted with Setacolor fabric paints. I laid it out on a flat surface, applied my colors to damp fabric, crumpled it and left it to dry. I was satisfied with the result.

Then I received a gift of a box of tulle from a tulle manufacturer. At that point, I realized I had more tools (no pun intended) for creating depth and realism to the look of flames and smoke.

I used a glittery red tulle for the flames, and a crumpled gray for the smoke.

Using Tyvek to create the trees was almost an afterthought. I used Dharma pigments to color the Tyvek. I like this product because it has a very intense pigmentation and also bonds very well with the slippery plastic surface of the olefin.

This small piece is practice for a much larger one that is intended for the Elements Gallery opening in August.

I am sharing some of the tulle that I received from the manufacturer. Would you like some free tulle? Find out how at the Salvaged Threads Blog.

Nature is the Art of God

I did several more journal covers using gelatin plate prints, stitched Tyvek leaves, and hand stamped fabrics. The one pictured above has already sold.

I've been away for a week. My father had shoulder replacement surgery on Monday, and I've spent the past week with him and my mother. The surgery was here in Billings, and I drove them home when he was released from St Vincents Hospital on Wednesday. Then, I stayed with them until Saturday, when I was the "guest artist" at Prairie Collections gallery in Stanford, MT during the Christmas Stroll.

I am seriously considering opening an Etsy store to sell these journal / sketch books, and other small items. I looked for journals on Etsy last week when I was trying to decide how to price these. I realized there is nothing like this available anywhere - at least I couldn't find them!

Ginko Leaves in Tyvek

I feel like I am wandering aimlessly in the studio these past couple of days. All the backlog has been taken care of and now is the time to launch something new. Yet, I really can't devote my full attention to anything creative, as there are many distractions so my focus is really off. The apartment renovation is coming along nicely and now that the floor refinishing crew is there, I have a couple of days off, but we have had a houseful of people coming and going these past several days, as well. Since studio time is so precious, I hate to squander it on something mediocre, but maybe that is just part of the process.

Lacking other inspiration, I decided to begin making samples of small quilts incorporating gelatin prints with Tyvek in the theme of leaves.

This is the piece I did yesterday. I am not thrilled with it, but it isn't finished, so I know I need to be patient. The full piece just looks kind of messy to me right now. Maybe this one needs to be cut into small postcard sized pieces.

Here is the sheet of painted Tyvek before I cut the leaves from it.

More Quilts from the International Quilt Festival

"Leaves and Twigs" was juried into the "Quilts, A World of Beauty" judged show. It is constructed of gelatin plate leaf prints with a hand dyed border.

The surface was embellished with Tyvek leaves. They were painted, then stitched in place.

This is what the leaves looked like after stitching, but before heating with an iron.

I also sent along this little practice piece. I used this small quilt to work out my design process and decided to donate it to the IQA silent auction.

Quilts:Fiber for Thought, Plains Art Museum

I just received a letter from the Plains Art Museum in Fargo, North Dakota announcing the opening of a new quilt exhibition.

The show is called "Quilts: Fiber for Thought" and is curated by Kim Baird and Kimberlee Madsen. See more details about this event here.

The show opens on October 25 - that's tomorrow. The reception is on Saturday, November 10 at 7 pm. The show closes on January 13, 2008.


My piece in the exhibition is "All Alone and Blue"This piece was inspired by the work of Friedensreich Hundertwasser.

It has been constructed of pigment painted Tyvek, which was cut, stitched to black cotton, then melted. "All Alone and Blue" is my interpretation of the feeling of isolation created by those suffering from depression. To learn more about this piece, as well as my other works, visit my website.

Finalizing Leaves and Twigs

This morning I broke up my window washing chores with time at the sewing machine. By late afternoon, I had finished stitching the Tyvek leaves in place on this piece called, "Leaves and Twigs". I stitched the veins on each leaf, as this is the part that remains after heating. I carried it out to the well ventilated workshop to melt the Tyvek. It took about 30 minutes to hit every leaf with my mini hand held iron.

Note the delicate leaf images on the background fabric. The background is a group of gelatin prints all pieced together. The printed images are nearly all of leaves - mostly weeds that I harvested in the fall. I started this piece last fall when the Cottonwood leaves were turning gold and falling off. Now the trees are all leafed out again and it is time to put closure on this quilt! All that's left to do is the binding!

All the windows in the house got washed today, too - no small task!

Leaves and Twigs - Tyvek Study

I painted Tyvek in autumn shades. I purchase archival quality Tyvek in 50 foot rolls, since we use this stuff in my retreats.

I made this little quilt as a study for a much larger piece. The base fabric is a gelatin monoprint.
I am calling this piece "Leaves and Twigs". The print on the background fabric is printed with leaves, then I fused strips of handpainted fabric for twigs, and also quilted it with a twig pattern that I developed.

The leaves are made of the Tyvek I painted. The main problem I wanted to work out was whether to fuse a background fabric behind the Tyvek leaves or just to use the Tyvek directly on the quilt. I wasn't sure the leaves would "pop" well enough if only Tyvek was used. Sometimes with Tyvek, I find that the image fades away too much after ironing and I like to use another fabric behind it. I made leaves both ways for this study.

In the picture above, I have layered some of the leaves with another fabric behind, but some of the leaves are made of only painted Tyvek. After layering, I stitched the veins of the leaves.

Then, I use my little Rowenta iron. This is really nice for working with Tyvek because it gives me much more control than my big iron. Parchment paper between the quilt and the iron keeps everything in place during the melting process.

A closeup after ironing. I think I really prefer the look of the leaf made with only Tyvek. The leaf looks really skeleton like and delicate - which I think complements the delicate gelatin print in the background. What do you think?

I am preparing for my Spring Retreat, which takes place June 8 - 10 in Billings, Montana. We will be working with Tyvek and making gelatin prints. There are still a couple of openings. Interested? Learn more about it here.