Fire In The Desert and Over the Edge

Completed my second piece for Voyage 2015 last night!! And I love it! Sorry...but I really do like how it turned out! Both of these pieces are made with my own hand dyed and surface designed fabrics and created with raw edge applique.

My series for the 2015 Voyage Theme of Abstracted Nature is "Forces of Nature". My first piece was "Over the Edge" - the lava flow.

And the second piece I just finished last night is "Fire in the Desert" - lightening 

My two remaining pieces to complete are "Danger Below" - iceberg and "Winds of Change" - hurricane. I can hardly wait to start the next one!!!

2014 Voyage is one for the books!

yes....I said 2014. Ran a bit behind on this year for the international yahoo group Voyage, but it is all finally done. The theme for 2014 was EARTH. We were allowed to develop our interpretation of that theme as we wished. I decided to choose 6 beautiful places on earth that are natural creations. The title of my series is "Earth's Amazing Wonders"

BEAUTIFUL BOUNDARY

Great Barrier Reef

Australia

(The reef is made with a new technique on sunprinted dupioni silk. The sea, sky and cloud are all my own hand dyed cottons, the surf is painted cheesecloth)

GIANTS  IN  THE  MIST

Giant Sequoias

Sequoia National Forest

California, USA

(The very distant trees are a b/w image transfer on silk organza, the middle range trees are from a commercial fabric wrapped in silk organza, the foreground trees are made with bark cloth. The undergrowth is my own hand dyed cottons scrunched and painted)

IRIDESCENT  CASCADE

Ruby Falls

Chattanooga, Tennessee

(The large pink back wall and the side purple walls are sunprinted dupioni silk, the top of the back wall is two of my own hand dyed cottons. The waterfall is painted with Jaquard Lumiere and white acrylic and overstitched with an iridescent white Sulky thread. While the cavern walls are not actually purple, in several photos I saw of them they were up-lighted with different colors)

REFUGE

Blue Caves

Zaknythos, Greece

All of the fabrics are my own hand dyed cottons except the purple-ish water under the rocks and a turquoise piece in the front rock wall which are sunprinted dupioni silk. Each rock face was also painted with some rust on the far rock wall.)

SURROUNDED

Antelope Canyon 

Arizona, USA

(The walls of Antelope Canyon are actually these vibrant colors in the summer when beams of sunlight penetrate the canyon the most. Winter colors are a bit more subdued. This canyon is called "the place where water runs through rock" by the Navajo.)

UNDER  AFRICAN  SKIES

Avenue of the Baobobs

Madagascar

(The sky is a commercial fabric but I chose it because it looked exactly like I wanted it to. I researched many baobob tree photos and the one that intrigued me was one where the trunk of the trees had a silver look. These tree trunks are a commercial satin fabric.The horizon green was quite a serendipity moment. It was cut from an impression on the very last piece of a certain breakdown screen print I have. I was sorry to see it go but it went out in style.I also used the cut out pieces of this for the bushes under the trees. The ground is one of my hand dyed cottons. The road is bark cloth and the leaves of the trees are thread lace. 

I and the 12 other Voyage artists for all over the globe will have all our EARTH pieces in a Special Exhibition for the Minnesota Quilters Association Quilt Show 2015 in Duluth in June! If you are there, please drop by and visit me at that exhibition!

So, that's it for now. The theme with Voyage for 2015 is Abstract Nature. I already have my inspiration images and the series of four pieces is titled "Forces of Nature" I have chosen an iceberg, lava flow, a hurricane and lightening

Binding Done!!

Well, I made it! I've done pieced bindings before but this one was a bear...all the angles and bits. It took all day but it was worth it!

First of a New Series

This is the first piece of a new series I'll be doing this year.  The series is "Earth's Amazing Wonders"  OK...I know...it is not exciting so I'll just call that the working title.  There will be at least 6 pieces done in textiles which will depict (or suggest) places that I find awe inspiring. I have the first several in the list. The remaining couple or three I've not narrowed down as yet. Oh I have my favorites though, it will just depend on what rises to the surface when the time comes.

First up is Antelope Canyon in Arizona.  When you look at photos of this location, it seems like someone when nuts with their PhotoShop. The colors are amazing and the contours of curving rock are beautiful.This is a view inspired by several photos...looking through the jewel-tone rock to a beautiful clear sky.  I hope I did it justice.

It does not yet have a binding as I have been struggling with just what to do. My current plan is to do a pieced binding that will just fit in with each part of the fabrics.  This art quilt also has a lot of stitching on it. I haven't done this amount of quilting in ages.  All the contour lines are stitched. At first I thought it would be a bit boring to do but it actually took on a rather organic feel as I didn't work to make the lines exact but rather made the undulate on purpose to pick up the flowing feeling of the actual rock.

I am linking this to Nina Marie's Off The Wall Fridays. Click there to see the work of some amazing artists!

And Last but NOT least!

Number Six

Final Piece for the Voyage group exhibit in France, April 2014.

This is another of my Up Close and Personal series. The inspiration is another macro photo taken on a trip to Texas. In a small town in East Texas there was a very old log cabin in the town park. The logs were sun bleached to a beautiful gray. And the green spiky plants just added a pop of color. These green plants would very likely been tucked in a corner of the log cabin when it was lived in long years ago.

I did take a bit of license with this one. I changed the ground to a brown. I tried every green I have (and being a hand-dyer...there was a lot of options) but they all distracted from the spiky plants which I wanted to show up a bit more. Here it is with the original macro photo that inspired it.

TUCKED  IN  A  CORNER

Now to get them all in a package and they are off to France!!! Whew....then I can breathe a bit maybe?

In the meantime....I'm linking this to Nina Marie's Off The Wall Fridays!

Wounded Tree (?) is completed.

And this makes FIVE ready to ship off to France by the end of the month.

This is inspired by a macro photo and one of my "Up Close and Personal" series.  The working title was Wounded Tree (and I have to leave it that way for now as that is the info sent to France.) but the more I worked with it...it became Knotty Situation.  So after April it will have a new name!

I really have fun on this one working with Shiva sticks and bark cloth. So...here it is with its original macro photo.

Wounded Tree (aka Knotty Situation)

Five down and one to go. Number six is well under way and will make the deadline. WHEW!

Pushing the deadline again!

One of the online groups I participate with is having a group show in Beaujolais, France. The show is in April.  Because of all the work I had to complete to be ready for my solo show this month, this project got a bit behind.  I have to complete the other two pieces (which are well under way so don't worry.) and get them shipped to Europe by the end of the month.....yes.....this month.

Oh I must LOVE a challenge!!

My theme for this series is "Up Close and Personal"  The concept is to use macro photos I took myself and redo them in art quilts. I have to say...I have had so much fun with these pieces!! The previous ones are already posted in this blog if you want to see them.

Anyway, here it is......Rusty Leaves is completed!! Here it is below (on the right) along with the original macro photo on the left.

Rusty Leaves

17" X 12"

Now back to work!!! I'm linking this to Nina Marie's Off The Wall Friday!! 

Weathered Red Door

Just completed another of my Up Close and Personal pieces for one of my groups.  This series is based on several favorites of my own macro photos which I wanted to "redo" in textiles. Ancient Cactus was my first piece.

This is from another photo I took in a small town in Texas during a trip there. I LOVE peeling paint and old buildings and doors and this just fit all of those. It is from an old store front but the premises were empty at the time we visited. Wish I could have found a date on the building or something but all I know is...it was very old.

The door is from a breakdown screen print I had done at least a year ago. Found it interesting how much it looked like the weathered red door without a whole lot of altering!! I cut out portions so the black could show through when appliqued. I also used a bit of acrylic paints and Shiva paint sticks to get just the right look.  The "grate" in front of the door is some silver mesh.  It was way too shiny for this old door so I painted it with a charcoal gray acrylic.  I love the way it turned out.  So....here it is....along with it's inspiration photo.

Weathered Red Door

I'll be posting this on Nina Marie's Off The Wall Friday.

ACCEPTED!!

Just last night I received word that my piece "It Was A Dark and Stormy Night" was accepted for the PAGE TURNER exhibition at the Some Things Looming Gallery in Reading, PA!

"The digital era is altering how we read books so we wanted a challenge that alters the way we perceive books. Whether it be an altered book or incorporates pages of a book, we challenge you to create the ultimate...Page Turner.  Our major requirements for this challenge are that you incorporate fiber techniques and any parts or pages of a book."

As an avid mystery reader, I chose as my inspiration the iconic beginning line of a mystery novel - "It was a dark and stormy night...."  An angry gray sky, the storm crashing outside.  But a true fan of the page turner is cuddled up under her quilt. The light from the bedside lamp shining on the pages.  It is the dark and stormy night of her mystery novel that captures her attention.

I hand-dyed the background fabric so I could have the white spot for the big flash of lightening.  The house is made out of pages from ruined paperback books by 3 of my favorite mystery writers.  (The books had a run in with blue jello.....don't ask....)   I used gel medium to adhere them all together, cut out the house shape, painted it and added detail with stitching.  

I’m so excited!  Here is the piece:

It Was A Dark and Stormy Night

Finishing out 2012

Yep...I'm a few days late (and after Christmas.....more than a few dollars short!!  LOL!!) but this one is my last piece to complete my challenges for 2012.

A Burning Passion - This is my last VoyageArt piece for 2012 where the theme was to be Who Am I?  After such an amazing year, I seem to have discovered that art is definitely my Burning Passion.  So what better way to complete my self-disclosure?  It also is a great catapult into 2013 because I will be concentrating MUCH more of my time on my art this coming year.

Fabrics in this piece are my hand-dyed ruching and pole shibori and a few other hand-dyed fabrics from my stash.  Size is 10" X 20".  This isn't the greatest photo....cuz I took it.  I can hardly wait to have it done professionally by Shawn Nielsen (see link in right sidebar!!) later this month!!  LOVE the difference it makes!

A Burning Passion

Now onto all my fun plans for 2013...unencumbered with any unfinished projects!! I'm so excited about my series, etc for the coming year I can hardly wait to get started!!

The Finished Piece

Just completed it....binding, sleeve and all.  Even added some real watch parts.

The Sands of Time

10" X 20"



Burned For a Purpose

This saga began almost a year and a half ago.  We were visiting NE Minneapolis art district for the annual Art-A-Whirl.  Some amazing art caught our eye.  Very ethereal....haunting almost.  Imprints of leaves mostly.  Breath-taking.  We asked the artist how she achieved this beautiful effect.  The answer....gun powder.  What????  Yep...gun powder. The prints she produced stayed with us all day.  As textile artists....and risk-takers in general....our natural inclination was...."I wonder what would happen if we did it on textiles?"  We didn't get to it that summer....but this summer we HAD to try it out.  We gathered our supplies.  Bought the gunpowder (I'm always amused by people's reaction.  These two women asking the clerk where to find gun powder. "What kind do you need?"  ummmmmm we don't know.  We are artist and are using it in our art.  "Ahhhhh"  - like that explains everything!!  Too funny!)  So anyway, after we found out that we for sure didn't want the kind that exploded....just burned, we were on our way.

We got one or two good pieces out of it....well, my friend did anyway.  We worked with the leaves...it was a windy day....enough said.

I've been so wanting to try it out myself and just waiting for a project that could benefit from this technique.  Then I had it. The 10 X 20 group - I still have 2 pieces to complete for this year.  One was due Oct. 1 so yes....I'm a bit behind.  The difficulty wasn't the gun powder bit....but finding an appropriate background.  Finally I found a piece of what felt like a twill.  Liked the subtle dyeing that had already been done to it. Only one problem....didn't think about what the fabric make-up was.  I mean I hardly have any textiles in my studio that aren't cotton or silk or linen.  So I go merrily on my way to experiment.  POOF!  The gun powder went off and the cardboard on top was burning a bit around the edges still....not uncommon.  I picked the cover up and the fabric itself was burning and melting.  Can you say synthetic fibers???? Put it out right away so no horrible damage was done.  But....as they say....you learn something new every day. 

Still...I got the results that worked for this particular project. There will be additonal experiments - on cotton - but I'm happy with the results for this time.  Below are photos of the process along the way and the final results, of course.

Screen printed clocks in Latte acrylic and ironed on the masks of freezer paper

Taped the fabric to the board and applied the gun powder

Set the gun powder on fire (and the fabric as it turned out)

Resulting fabric with masks removed (you can see the burned edges)

Another layer of screen printed clocks, this time in Lumiere Old Brass - and a few stamped clocks as well

Now to do the stitching.....and probably adding a few watch parts as well.  Hope to have it done by Monday if not before.



 

I Miss the Snow

I know I know....many of you will think I'm crazy (well this might or might not dispell that concept) but I LOVE the cold and the snow!! A bit strange for a Texas girl transplanted to the frozen tundra of Minnesota. But it is true.  This piece was born this summer when we had WEEKS of upper 90s. Thought I would die. Thank heaven for A/C or I just might have. I so LONGED for the cold and snow. I know it is a lot to ask of an art quilt...to bring back vivid enough memories of several feet of snow and temps below freezing to vanquish the oppresive heat...but I had high hopes. And to some extent it does give me hope. At least living in Minnesota (aka the Frozen Tundra) I know winter and cold WILL come eventually. I long for the first nip in the air, the promise that fall brings of the cold, refreshing winter beauty soon to come. So I wait..........


The background is white dupioni silk quilted in a snowflake pattern with silver metallic thread. The snowballs are circles of muslin with layers of scrim, lace, cording, knotted fabric and mulberry cloth hand-stitched onto it. Then the circles were appliqued to the quilt and then painted with White Pearl Lumiere and white acrylic paint. The finishing touch was to stitch some white iridescent beads onto each snowflake. Is it just me or is it getting just a bit chilly in here??????

I Miss The Snow

10" X 20"

I Miss the Snow - detail



Junk Junkie

OK...I teased you with the previous post (Can this be art....AND art quilting??).  Here is the result and yes...it is an art quilt!!

Again for one of the online groups I participate with - the theme for this year is WHO I AM - Like everyone, I'm quite a few "things". But one for sure is a Junk Junkie. I dumpster dive if I see something that catches my eye, pick up free things off the side of the road, LOVE Freecycle, thrift stores....that about says it. My poor long-suffering husband is at last used to piles of what seems to most people as useless stuff. Both he and my 4 year old granddaughter don't throw anything away unless they ask me first if I need it for an art project. I'm not altogether sure why old junk appeals to me and helps define what kind of person I am or at least what interests me. Probably a bit of the same reason I love falling down buildings. It's like I feel a sense of history and presence from another time. I try to imagine to whom it belonged in the past. Was it loved and cared for or just a utilitarian piece. I have a pile of rusted junk on the side of my house that I'm sure my neighbors question but if they could see this piece they just might understand.

I rusted white cotton fabric and then dyed it a bit with some cerulean blue procion dye. The large border/binding is a hand-dyed cotton of very close to the same blue. Both are from my stash. I wove rusted wire, including various rusty bits and pieces as I went along. Rusted some cotton heavy duty thread to attach the weavings to the quilt. The piece is 10" X 20".
 

JUNK  JUNKIE

JUNK  JUNKIE - detail



I have to say this was a very interesting quilt to make. Metal weaving is a bit more of a challenge than I had anticipated but I do have to say...it was worth it!!

A New Voyage

I have the privilege to belong to another art quilting group with people from all over the world.  This one is for an art quilt every two months or so. This is the first piece for that group.

So the theme is "Where I Am". The answer came very quickly for me as did the initial concept. Then it was just a matter of bringing it to life.


Where I Am - LIMBO, that's where I am these days. In just about every aspect of my life...LIMBO. Not in the theological definition. More in the idea of so many things not settled. Everything is up in the air. So that is where I am taking you with this art quilt - to my state of limbo.

I do feel as though I am barely balanced and no definite (or sometimes even a hint of) direction to go to solve any of these issues. All of them are mostly out of my control. Others are left to decide my fate. The green verdant background is the beautiful fields of abandon where I long to frolic and play....just almost within reach. The cliff on the left is the sturdiness of knowing at least my immediate future plans. But now...I'm struggling in mid air and always feeling like any day I could plunge into the roiling tumult below me. The solid part on which I can still put my feet is my faith. It is often the only thing that keeps me upright.

So that is my story of Where I Am.

LIMBO

The next theme is "Who I Am".  Again the concept was immediate but this one is even MORE difficult to decide how to put it into tangible form. But that is the fun of a challenge....to stretch and experiment on ideas and/or techniques that I haven't done before.