Rough Around the Edges

Tag Tuesday

2012-01-24T08:48:00.000-08:00

I was catching up on some blog reading and found so many fun challenges/classes/themes for the new year that I could spin in all sorts of new directions. But I was especially drawn to Carolyn Saxby's Tag Tuesday challenge. Unfortunately it was full by the time I found it, but I decided to play along on my own.

Carolyn gives a theme each Tuesday for a tag to be created that week. The nice thing about playing alone is I can use whatever rules I want, so I decided I wasn't that interested in tags themselves, but I do like the challenge of experimenting on a very small canvas with a theme to challenge me.

So here is my non-tag for the challenge "White" this week. Thinking snowballs, using a variety of silk and other fabric samples/scraps.

Actually I see I'm a week behind and everyone is already posting the next challenge "Vintage," so I'll try to squeeze another one in before next Tues. and get with the program.

Teens and Trees

2012-01-21T10:49:00.000-08:00

We had a long winter break in my teen Art and Design class and are just getting going again. Here are a few pictures of one of the projects from last term. We were studying shape and visual texture. They had to design a stylized tree, simplifying its shapes, and cut it out of foam core. They then covered it with black and white or neutral magazine pages that showed strong visual texture. (As you may notice with any assignments I give, there are always some rule breakers, and I'm fine with that.) They could then add pops of color if they wanted.

The trees are designed to be free standing and are just spectacular that way. I had to lay them on the floor for a few quick photos as we ran out the door and wish I had better background colors to make them pop, but I think you can still see how great they turned out.

Here are a few of them:

They are such a talented group--it is a thrill to watch them create! You can see some of their earlier assignments here.

Stocking the blacks and whites

2012-01-18T15:24:00.000-08:00

I go through a lot of black and white fabric, so I've been building my stash back up with some handpainted ones.

Mostly I use the Jacquard Textile paints, but I ran out of the white, so I used Golden's fluid acrylic in its place. It worked pretty well, but it does have a slightly stiffer hand when it dried. Fine for machine work but I wouldn't want to hand stitch through it.

I like to do a lot of rough writing both big and small, legible and not.

And just fast and crazy so it's all a little messy.

This was one of my favorite pieces made by dipping the Jacquard lid in white paint and printing with it 4 or 5 times.

Connections

2012-01-15T15:08:00.000-08:00

There are a few things that I wanted to share that I've gotten a little behind on.

First, I'm happy to say that Jacky at Stitchworks awarded me a Liebster blog award. I always enjoy Jacky's blog, so I'm flattered she passed it on to me. The award is meant to showcase bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers. It originated in Germany and means "favorite" or "dearest." The rules are you must mention and link to the person who gave you the award and mention 5 other blogs that you think are worthy of the Leibster.

Yeah, it's sort of a chain letter, which I usually don't participate in, but I would like to take this chance to point out some blogs that I do really like. I don't have a clue whether they have under 200 subscribers, so I may be breaking all sorts of rules, but here goes.

Dee Mallon and Cloth Company. Dee has a wild abandon with fabric and fearlessly combines colors, prints, textures, in a way I love. Check out this page to see what I mean.

Dreamcicle Journeys. Paula experiments with a variety of mixed media and very generously shares her discoveries and knowledge.

Eclectic Meanderings. Deanna is doing lots of admirable eco-dyeing and stitching.

Ragzedge Arts. Lynne stitches and paints and photoshops and doodle draws and all sorts of fun things. Here's one of her paintings I fell in love with.

Copper Crow Studios. Tory makes fabulous wire and clay characters as well as many other interesting pieces.

Darn! That's 5 already! As long as I'm breaking rules, I'm going to throw in one more.

Madhandled Threads is a blog I recently discovered and am quite taken with. Joe does some wonderful stitching and zen-like reflecting. And he has the greatest blog name!

I've mentioned my art group, Portland Art Collective, here many times because of our shows, our retreats, our parties.... The group has 30 women who have been gathering for almost nine years now. I consider myself a pretty solitary person who is always fighting for more time alone, yet I love this group and consider it a major part of my life. If you are interested in starting your own art group, Tory Brokenshire and I wrote an article about ours in the Jan/Feb. 2012 issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors.

And I was interviewed along with Lorraine Jones, our show coordinator, for Portland's Art Focus radio show. We talk about our group, our show, and our own artwork. I was really pleased with how it turned out. It's a 30 minute show and you can hear it here if you are interested. Note: it aired before our show last Dec.

Finally, I want to pass on this cool site of world textiles-- Fibercopia.com I especially like Maki Yamamoto's work that I found there.

Whew--that's what happens when I get behind.

Out with the Old--Garland Tutorial

2012-01-08T11:58:00.000-08:00

My house always looks so drab after I take down Christmas decorations, so this year I made a little New Year's garland to add some spark.

It was so fun to do and cleared out some of the old to make way for the new. It's kind of an anything goes project, but here's how I did it.

I started with a very ugly painting exercise (maybe to see how many garish colors I could put in one piece?) I had done on watercolor paper. I kept thinking I'd repaint it, but it was better to get rid of it. On top of it, I free wrote thoughts about what I wanted for the new year.

I punched 2" circles out of that and punched smaller circles and shapes out of other old projects.
I wrote some guiding words for the year on another old painting and tore them into pieces. And cut a pile of silk and velvet fabric scraps.

I built little piles on the 2" circles and anchored them with scribbly free-motion stitching.

Then attached two circles together back-to-back and did more scribbly stitching to hold them together.
And finally I chain stitched them all together into garlands. I like the additional scribbly lines that the loose threads add, so I didn't trim anything.

They were very addicting to make and got rid of some ugly past at the same time.

Boho Puffs

2012-01-05T16:12:00.000-08:00

In my effort to be more productive, I grabbed some scraps for a TV project.

I have a bag of these sample bits that I picked up at Thai Silks in CA several years ago because they had potential written all over them. Lots of burn-out velvets and silks.

But besides a snippet here and there, they have pretty much stayed in the bag. When in doubt, make puffs, I always say. I love the wacky textures and color combos.

Don't know what I'll do with them, but maybe they are a beginning of a big hippie piece.

A Clean-ish Start

2012-01-03T12:04:00.000-08:00

My studio will never be one of those beautiful, highly organized places that appear in magazines, but at least I have some clean surfaces for the moment. I tend to start my year with a big clean-up, but as soon as I start working, there will be piles again.

I am lucky to have a good-sized studio space. One half of the room is devoted to fabric.

The other half has my painting area. And my faithful bulldog, Jack.

I have a nice design wall behind my sewing machine, but I tend to accumulate notes and snippets of ideas there rather than design on it.

Because obviously my inspiration wall isn't enough.

I keep most of my fabric in these cabinets.

I always admire open shelves of fabric with neatly organized stacks of color. But the reality is my fabric looks like this once I've been working, and the closed doors are the only thing that keeps it looking neat.

I clear the surfaces between projects and as long as I have space to work, I'm happy.

I just signed up for a free online workshop with Traci Bautista. I've taken her classes in person, and she's always fun and playful. If you're interested, you can check it out here.

Just 30

2012-01-01T14:46:00.000-08:00

I love new beginnings and this year I am especially ready for one! It was a rough year with illness in my family and then my Dad passed away on Dec. 15. He was a wonderful man whom I adored, and his passing leaves a huge hole in my heart. The most important lesson he taught me was that hard work and taking on challenges can be a great source of joy and satisfaction, and it's with that thought that I'm approaching my new year.

I love playing with art, but sometimes I get lazy and don't push myself enough to reach a level of full satisfaction. I'm hoping to reach a little further this year.

Perfect timing--my friend Paula made me this fabulous necklace and the word she chose for me is "stretch," so this will be my talisman for the year.

It occurred to me that I'm always great at following through with new plans until about the end of Jan. so this year I'm doing a Just 30 plan. I just want to see how much I can accomplish in 30 days. No specific goals--just seeing how much I can stretch myself in that period.

I did make this list of some things I've been meaning to try and will post them in my studio:

Make graphic fabrics with printmaking

Write/draw on fabrics with black and white

Make graphic papers

Garlands out of paper and fabric circles

Graffiti hearts

Carve stamps

Work on Soul Collage cards

Paint over magazine pages to use in other projects

Do more sketching with parallel or dip pens

Randomly stitch units of fabric together to see where they go

And I'm hoping my path is now clear to get back to regular blogging again.

Happy New Year to Everyone!

Bright and Cheerful

2011-11-28T17:42:00.000-08:00

I am happy to say that I'm finishing up details for our show this weekend and have allowed myself a couple days of relaxation before the big event. These things are always more work than I remember, but I'm happy for the intense creative state it throws me into, and even happier when it's all over!

Lots of bright colors lately.

Some fiber bundle jewelry:

And more prayer flags. I always love black and white with colors played off of them for sheer cheerfulness. Here's a nice shot on my paint-stained table.

And finally some fiber heart cards.

Hope to see you at Multnomah Arts Center in Portland this Fri. and Sat. Please say hi if you stop by!

Fall Colors

2011-11-18T19:40:00.000-08:00

Fall is my favorite season and this one is absolutely spectacular in Portland. The weather gods got together to have it turn cold quickly without the rain. I've been absorbing all this beauty everywhere I go.

A red waterfall:

Been spending lots of time wandering around downtown. The city parks are all color.

Love the window in this boho shop:

And the cabbage thingies in this bouquet at the farmer's market.

No surprise that fall tones are popping up in my work. I'm working on a new line of fabric jewelry this year for our show. I'm always trying to find a way to include fabric with jewelry without it getting too cute. I'm really happy with these bundle beads I came up with.

Some necklaces--

And some earrings. I also made some bundle beads on hoops for larger earrings. I thought I was working with pretty small scraps when I was making my prayer flags. Now I'm down to smaller snippets yet.

Working away on the prayer flags. Here are a few of my favorite fall ones.

And tonight we got the first bit of snow, so it all comes to an end.

Color Play

2011-10-30T12:18:00.001-07:00

I haven't had much to show lately because even though I have been working, it's that somewhat repetitive phase of getting things ready for our show in Dec. The result is I ran out of my favorite dyed threads and ribbons, so I took a little dyeing break.

I've been using hand-dyed rayon bias tape as the ribbons to join my prayer flags. It's abundant at thrift stores and takes dye beautifully.

My favorites are the variegated dyes.

Here's how I do it. Start by making a hank of the seam binding and put a loose wire twist to hold the two ends. Keep it loose or you will end up with a white spot there. Soak in soda ash solution.

Holding the wires, dip the middle into your first color.

Then dip each of the ends into a different color.

I drape the dyed ribbon over two sticks placed over a plastic bin to catch the drips. After I leave them over night, I rinse out the excess, let them dry and they are ready to go.

I've also been playing with color with the teens in my Art and Design class. I gave them a word prompt and had them cut colors out of magazines to form a palette for that word. Some designed their pages carefully.

Some added explanatory notes:

And some went wild and came up with their own words. I love the exuberance of this one. She filled her whole page to show "the whole world."

Art and Design Class

2011-10-07T16:36:00.000-07:00

I used to teach quite a few art classes for all different ages, and I stopped a few years ago to take a break. I've had this one particular class in mind for some time though, so I was really excited when the opportunity came up to teach an Art and Design class for teens. I love working with this age group because they are highly creative and old enough to be able to take on challenging work.

This is such a fun class for me because I've been gathering examples from the design world--fashion, architecture, comics, video game design, etc. to illustrate art principles. Gives me a fresh perspective on things.

And the students' work is inspiring!

Here are some of the results from a negative space exercise I gave. Students start with a 6" black square, cut out shapes and flip them onto a white background.

The next 2 started with a black rectangle.

For the first two weeks, we worked on an exercise on finding variety within limitations. Starting with a leaf shape, they cut no more than 5 straight lines out of it.

Then the next week they repeated the exercise using curved lines.

They really astound me with the range of ideas they can come up with!

More Prayer Flags

2011-09-30T18:39:00.000-07:00

Still playing with new color combos. then hanging these on my porch to capture a few last minutes of sun. They make me happy, both to make and to hang. I keep picking a favorite set, then switching when the next comes along.

This black and white with brights:

Or maybe the deeper, earthier tones?

Or the warm and brights?

And a few new contenders in progress--the purples:

And the greens:
I just really love color--all colors, including black and white!

I was so happy to win a blog prize from the wonderful Jacky at Stitchworks. I received this fun journal made of paper and fabric with funky stitching on it. It's very much my style and I love it.

And look at the clever way she attached a pencil on the side.

More Prayer Flags

2011-09-21T16:35:00.000-07:00

I've been having a lot of fun playing with pattern and color in new sets of prayer flags. I started some tiny ones back here. I decided to make this set longer, 3"x7", so they would hang more gracefully.

I found a remnant basket at a local quilting shop full of scraps, some odd cut shapes leftover from classes, for .50 an oz. I got a fat bagful and challenged myself to make these 2 sets of flags out of it. I love having a challenge like that--it forces me into some combinations that I might not normally do. I cheated a couple times when I needed a pop of color that wasn't there, but about 99.5% of these came from that bag. It's a fun way to get to delve into those cool, modern fabrics without investing much.

A cool set:

And a warm:

New Hearts

2011-08-23T14:50:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite things to make every year is the small danglies (or ornaments) that we put in our holiday show. The centerpiece of our show is a bare tree branch, and each artist hangs some of her own danglies on it. I also display some at my own booth.

In the past I've made owls, birds, wooden and fabric houses (which I can't find a picture of), and hearts. I wanted a simple pattern this year, so I returned to hearts again, using a new design.

They will come in 3 flavors. Cool:

Warm:
And earthy:
The design was inspired by this wonderful bag of strips and selvedges that my friend Cindy sent me:
I have bags of strips that I've kept from other projects that I pulled out too. I like the challenge of building something out of such small pieces that might otherwise be headed for the trash.

When Is It Done?

2011-08-17T10:50:00.000-07:00

I always have quite a few paintings going but seldom any finished ones to show. Finally this one is done. I started it at the end of a very long winter, with many gray Portland days, when I was hungry for a little springtime color. It was looking a little too sweet for me until I added some rough charcoal drawing on top.

I keep 4 or 5 canvases going at a time and rotate them on my easel to see what needs to be done next.

When I think one is getting finished, I leave it on my easel for a week, and if I can keep walking by without needing to change anything, I know it's done. This one sat in an almost completed stage for a while, but I wondered if the white spot on the left side was a bit too strong and drawing the eye.

Somewhere along the line, I learned that a painting should be satisfactory both right side up and upside down. So I turned this one upside down and left it that way for a while. Upside down, the white spot did pull my eye too much, so I toned it down slightly as you can see in the first painting in this post.

If you paint and don't already know about them, you should check out Nova Color paints. Fantastic acrylic paints at the best prices ever! They only sell directly to artists so you don't have to pay for all the marketing to get them into stores. I love them!

I use a big sheet of freezer paper for my palette of alizarin crimson, cad. red, cad. yellow, cerulean, ultramarine blue, and titanium white.

With two kids at home, it's always challenging to find a big enough chunk of time to paint. I can easily pick up stitching here and there, but I hate to set up a palette of paint and then waste it because I have to run somewhere. Recently, I made this great discovery. If I mist my palette and put a plastic bin on top, I can keep paints moist for a couple weeks. It's not pretty, but it bought me a lot more painting time.

Rejuvenation

2011-08-08T09:23:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, a break works wonders. I hit a point where I felt like I was doing everything half-heartedly, without much enthusiasm behind anything, yet feeling guilty when I wasn't working at all. So I decided to take guilt out of the equation and give myself a good month off without even thinking about blogging or making anything. I now feel excited to step back into my world again. And it helps that I was reminded that our art group show is less than 4 months away!

I've just been taking a few baby steps back into creativity and working on projects I started earlier. I've been lining up my little pillows for a new set of wallhangings, which I first showed here. You can see how they got started here, including a link to Teesha's tutorial about making the pillows. I've went back to making them my original way using batting instead of stuffing and prefer that method to Teesha's, but she gives a good outline of her way of doing them.

So now that I have stacks of pillows from my travels, I start playing with putting them together into panels. (Sorry lighting is terrible in these, but there were too many pieces to move.)

I really like making a big, random pile of pillows then figuring out which ones I like together, instead of pre-planning and choosing fabrics that go together for each hanging. It keeps the color combos. fresh and not so predictable.

Now I'm couching on my words and will be working on attaching them together.

I've also been playing around with little fabric collages. getting ready to make more of my little prayer flags. And I've turned a few of them into more cards.

A few years ago I wrote an article for Cloth, Paper, Scissors about using prompts to spark creativity and spontaneity in your work. I've had such a wonderful response to that article, with people telling me they've used it in their own work, in their classrooms, or as challenges for their art groups. CPS is now releasing it as a free download, so if you'd like to read it you can get it here for free.

I'm happy to be back and eager to catch up on all the blogs I've been missing!

Lazy Days

2011-07-01T10:47:00.000-07:00

I haven't been doing any art and haven't even hardly visited my computer lately. And the funny thing is I don't have the slightest bit of angst about that for a change. Guess I'm just enjoying a big old lazy summer break.

I did make a few little fabric cards a while back. Just playing with color and wild patterns. Some of them started looking a little more Christian than I had in mind, so I'll be mixing them up a bit.

I'm off to visit family in California for a while, ready to relax even more.

Prayer Banners

2011-06-06T07:08:00.000-07:00

I loved the interaction that was occurring between the prayer flags I was working on, so I turned them into two prayer banners instead.

I seem to do long, skinny pieces over and over, and they are so hard to photograph. Most of these fabrics, the discards from a San Francisco fashion designer, were a gift from my friend Cindy. They are so gorgeous that I wanted them to be appreciated as they are with little done to them besides a few connections made.

The colors are so different for me. Soft, dream colors.

Nick Cave Exhibit

2011-05-31T15:43:00.000-07:00

Took a quick jaunt to Seattle this weekend to see the Nick Cave exhibit before it leaves.

The Seattle Art Museum has a wonderful exhibit of his Soundsuits on display until June 5. I've never seen anything like them. I like to scour thrift stores for items to use, but he takes it to a whole new level, making suits out of embroidered or sequined bits from clothing, doilies, rag rugs, old sweaters and afghans, toys, even ceramic birds. I couldn't take pictures, so these are from the web. Not all of these pieces are in the show, but there are plenty more that are very similar.

Some of the suits appear almost menacing, some like a spiritual totem, and most are highly celebratory. He has a wild imagination and it's a fun exhibit. I highly recommend it if you are in the Seattle area.

Seattle is a gorgeous city and I always find lots of inspiration there.

Beautiful decay at The Center for Wooden Boats:

A great, creepy sticker:

In a store window, lanterns made of torn strips of fabric and trims wrapped around a wire frame:

And I love the graphic quality of this wool and silk pillow in the art museum gift shop. May have to play around with one of those.

Retreat Weekend

2011-05-25T14:30:00.000-07:00

This weekend was Portland Art Collective's spring retreat. 21 of us headed to Menucha on the Columbia River Gorge for a weekend full of art, food, laughter, rest and lots of inspiration.

The grounds of Menucha were at their springtime peak with lilacs and rhododendrons in full bloom.
A great variety of moss to be found in the woods:

And even some garden art tucked in:

Here is some of the group hard at work. No telling what the others were up to.

Didn't get good pictures of all the great projects going on, but here's a little sampling.

Jill worked on intricate paper dolls:

Sandy's watercolors:

Suzanne's soldered charms:

Z'anne's zentangles:
Diane's paper birds in their early stages:

Cynthia's fiber necklaces:

Lorraine's journals:

Tammy's fabulous fiber garden:

Tory's crown:

And I worked on hand stitching prayer flags. I'll show more of these later.

It was a great weekend with laughter that brought me to tears a number of times. Always the mark of a perfect retreat.

Tutorial--Easy raw edge reverse applique

2011-05-17T15:01:00.000-07:00

I like the embedded quality of reverse applique found in molas, but have no desire to finish off all those little edges, so I've been playing around with some raw edge methods.

I did this a while back following Beryl Taylor's instructions in Cloth, Paper, Scissors. You can read more about it here.

I like the results, but there were several things I didn't like about the method. 1. It wastes a lot of fabric. One tiny crescent that shows on the front requires a large square of fabric that gets cut away. 2. It produces a bulky final piece that is difficult to hand stitch on.

So I started looking for a way to get the same effect minus the bulk and waste and came up with this easy method.

1. Place fabric pieces on top of very lightweight iron-on interfacing and fuse them together with the right side of the fabric up. Try to butt the fabrics together as much as possible, avoid overlapping them, but a little overlap won't hurt.

2. Place your cover fabric (in this case the purple that shows in the final piece but doesn't show here) on top of the colored squares and flip over. (Pin the cover fabric on if you need to.)

3. With the interfacing side up, stitch your design using a straight machine stitch. You can easily see where the fabric changes, so can design accordingly.

4. Flip right side up and cut away the cover fabric between the stitching lines, making sure you don't cut through the background fabric. The piece is very light weight so you can easily add handstitching.

Seems like there are lots of possibilities with this method. I'd love to see what you do with it!

The Thrill of Natural History

2011-05-10T15:02:00.000-07:00

Nothing inspires me more than the treasures from Africa, South America and the Pacific Islands. Some of these were from sections of the Met, others from The Natural History Museum in NYC.

I always collect interesting faces and figures:

And my heart skips every time I see intricate detail work as on this neckpiece.

Or this cording:

I also visited the Natural History Museum at Harvard. Lots of great patterns:

And I love this fringe treatment:

And wonderfully intricate molas:

I filled up my journal on my trip, but most pages are quicky collage bits of things I want to remember.

Only had time for the occasional quick sketch:

Thanks to a three hour delay in Chicago, I was able to finish all the little pillows I took along for stitching on the plane. They will probably be turned into wall hangings like these. These little pillows are the perfect traveling project because they are all self-contained, no little stray bits of fabric to deal with-- a needle, thread, scissors and I'm ready to go.

That's the end of my travels for now. Time to get back to work.

Loads of Art Inspiration

2011-05-07T14:10:00.000-07:00

New York is always full of great exhibits, but I really feel like I hit the jackpot this time. So many interesting things were going on, here are just a few of the pieces that jumped out at me.

Museum of Arts and Design had a fabulous exhibit called the Global Africa Project where contemporary artists did works inspired by African art.

This wonderful improvisational quilt was done by Siddhi Women's Quilting Co-op.

This gorgeous beadwork is part of a headpiece. Some of the beads are tiny rolled paper beads, no bigger than 1/4" in diameter.

I usually enjoy the American Folk Art Museum, but this time they had a traditional quilt show going on. Nice pieces, but not exactly inspiring.

I did fall in love with this pompom piece in the gift shop.

And this found object angel in the doorway.

And I was thrilled beyond words to catch the Maira Kalman show at the Jewish Museum. I've loved her paintings for some time, so it was great to see them in person. The show also contained a number of textiles she did for people like Isaac Mizrahi--wonderful pieces covered in line drawings. And a display of her children's books and some of her wacky collections, including a collection of onion rings. The guard told my husband that she comes in frequently and has a fabulous sense of humor. No surprise.

On a very different note, this display grabbed me at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Done by Michael Aschenbrenner, it was a whole wall of his "Damaged Bone Series." He is a Vietnam vet and made this piece in response to his experience. It was beautiful and disturbing. Bones are made of glass and splinted or wrapped together.

I was also very lucky to catch the SOFA (Sculptural Object and Functional Art) show in NYC. They usually have one in Chicago and one in NYC each year, but are now adding one in Santa Fe too. It was full of highly original, exquisitely crafted items. I couldn't take pictures, but I did find some wonderful artists that are worth checking out. Krista Harris for abstract painting, Kay Khan for heavily embroidered textile vessels, and Marian Bijlenga for wall hangings made out of dyed fish scales. Really.

I also really liked quilts by Daphne Taylor at the Contemporary Quilt Art Gallery.

The Boston Museum of Fine Arts was another fabulous spot. They had a mind blowing Dale Chihuly exhibit going on. I've seen exhibits of his work before, but this was the best, a retrospective of all his major ideas.

The glass ceilings--this one like a coral garden where you would find a few treasures like a mermaid here and there:

The chandeliers:
As much as I love his over-the-top blasts of shapes and colors, these simple lavendar reeds on birch trees really captured me. They filled a whole room:

I'm really happy that so many museums are including fashion these days. BMFA had a Scaasi
collection, including many pieces he designed for Barbra Streisand and Natalie Wood, a little blast of the elegant side of the 60s.

Window Shopping

2011-05-04T16:39:00.000-07:00

My head is full of inspiration after spending a week in New York City, then another week traveling around Boston and New England. The whole trip seemed to focus on food and art. I waddled home and was filled on both counts.

It was barely springtime in New York, just a hint of green.

But these giant roses were blooming up and down Park Ave.

I always find good specimens for my graffiti collection.

One of my all time favorite things to do is wander the city and browse all the beautiful displays. I'm really not much of a shopper, so a great window usually satisfies me just fine.

All sparkles.

Giant balls of yarn and jars of honey.

Graphic cones.
And the Easter bonnets were out:

I think I need a velvet moon throne.

Next time some of the art that has filled my brain.

Small Prayers

2011-04-10T17:14:00.000-07:00

Still gray here in Portland, so I needed a burst of color. I had all these scraps sitting around and decided to make small prayer flags out of them. They are about 3x4", just tiny bursts of color on the balcony.

I don't know why it thrills me so much to use up tiny little bits and pieces. A strong frugal thread in me I guess. Lots of these bits were headed for the trash before I came to my senses.

I am going to be gone for several weeks. I'm spending a week in New York City, one of my favorite places of all, and then traveling up to New England for another week. I've never been north of NYC, so I'm really looking forward to exploring that part of the country.

I made this journal to take with me.

And I finally did some spring cleaning on my blog. I've updated my favorites to add some wonderful ones that I've long neglected. I'm sure I've overlooked others, so I'll be adding more as they occur to me. See you in a few weeks.

Fragile

2011-04-03T10:45:00.000-07:00

Finished this one--that's a phrase I haven't used in a while.

I was in a fragile state myself this week with a cold and skin treatment that left me not wanting to show my face in public, so a fragile piece suited me. I put together some of my most delicate fabrics, no backing, just frayed bits held together with a thread.

Found a home for a few baubles:

Some bits were gifts and some from the bins:

I am really happy with my fringe at the bottom. I did a little funky crochet and added some torn and knotted organza behind it:

Back to Basics

2011-03-27T17:49:00.000-07:00

Yes, I do have enough fabric to last me the rest of my lifetime. But I can't help going out rummaging around now and then. My favorite shopping spot is the Goodwill bins, the final stop when things don't sell at Goodwill and are headed to landfill.

These are the beauties I rescued this time:

And I can't just let bits of hand embroidery go to the dumps:

Then I headed to the Senior Center rummage sale and found these unique bits:

Even a cutter quilt of old fabrics priced at $1:

I confess, I can't pass by this bright 60s fabric without buying it. Probably because I made so many clothes out of this stuff when I was a teen. I have a whole bin of it, and it's so bright, I don't know what I'll do with it. But someday....

I'm back to quietly stitching bits of fabric together by hand, and it feels really good.

Wrapping up Pamela Allen class

2011-03-21T17:24:00.000-07:00

I'm finally finishing up my lesson #3 from my Pamela Allen class. This one was about using stripes and patterns to accent design and also about steering away from pure bright color. It was a fun one, and a great wrestle with composition to work with so many bits, but I've pretty much decided that pictorial pieces are not my style.

Here's my first attempt. I was thinking about little Mexican villages that are these burst of color in the middle of drab surroundings. I wasn't trying to be very accurate, thus the peaked rooftops that you wouldn't find in Mexico.

Here is Pamela's revision. She recommended opening up the front for more space around the church and building a wall around it.

I made a number of changes and still see other things I would do differently (change the too busy house in the background, put the stained glass window shape back in), but I've lost my steam on this one and ready to move on.

Pamela is teaching more online classes this year and has now listed some on her website. I highly recommend them!

Over on Portland Art Collective, Tammy is giving away one of her beautiful Victorian tassel dolls, all dressed for spring. Leave a comment here to enter.

Bauble Break

2011-03-15T17:17:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I crave total silence, and this was one of those times. Living with a husband, 2 teenage boys, and a demanding bulldog, I often feel like I never have a solid chunk of time to focus on what I want to do. So for my birthday this year, I gave myself a blissful retreat--alone-- to the beach.

For 3 nights I painted and read, took walks and stitched.

A perfect place to work on simple baubles:

Pamela Allen lesson #4

2011-03-06T12:24:00.000-08:00

I'm still working on my lesson from week #3, so I'll post that later. Here's a little exercise we did from week 4. The focus for the week was on negative space, and we warmed up by doing a chair formed from the negative space. In other words I started with the tan and black lined fabric and cut the negative space from the colored fabric to form the chair.

It was very challenging even though I've done these sort of exercises in drawing already. I was so focused on getting the right shapes that I didn't give any thought to composition. Here're Pamela's suggestions to improve the composition of the piece:

My main problem was lining up fabrics right along the rungs or right with the seat line. And I always tend to crop closely while she allows more space around an object. I do like these changes she suggested.

The main part of this lesson was to do the same technique of using only negative space but now of a woman sitting in a chair. After one very dismal attempt, I decided it was way too tedious to try to rework, so I'm abandoning it and going back to work on lesson 3. I got the lesson of the importance of negative space, but can't say I enjoyed it.

Pamela Allen exercises--part 2

2011-02-20T11:28:00.000-08:00

Pamela gave us an alternative exercise for those who didn't want to venture into the complimentary color one. I needed more practice (and still do!) with composition, so I gave this one a quick try.

The assignment was to pick two colors and do a whole composition using only those, focusing on different values and intensities. The color didn't hang me up, but the composition did.

My thoughts here were that I wanted a big, bold contrast between the citrus and the blue bowl. I wanted it strong and graphic, yet anchored in a setting. I came up with this:

Pamela said the composition and scale made it visually confusing--the bowl is so much bigger than the chair, and the strong diagonal gives a strange perspective. Also the bowl is too big and cramped in the space, and there needs to be more variety in shapes to keep it interesting. Here is her revised version:

I do like the additional space she added. The bowl still really pops but is anchored much better in the space. And I really like how she kept the right half quiet, keeping all the emphasis on the bowl. She mixes up patterns, like putting the stripes of the floor in different directions to keep things interesting.

So now I'm struggling with how to do scenes that are not realistic, yet don't throw the viewer by being visually confusing. Not sure if pictorial pieces are ever going to be my thing, but it's a great learning experience!

For those of you who are interested in Pamela's classes. She only takes 20 in her class and has been teaching only one online class a year. Her classes fill immediately with return students, so there are seldom openings. But the good news is--she is considering repeating some of the classes more often during the year to allow in new students. If you are interested, email her at allen5@sympatico.ca

On another note, Stephanie is giving away one of her carved hearts over on the Portland Art Collective blog. Go here and leave a comment to enter. I have several of her carved pieces and love them!

Pamela Allen workshop

2011-02-18T13:16:00.000-08:00

I am really thrilled to be taking another Pamela Allen online workshop this month. I got so much out of it last year that I couldn't resist another round, this one focusing on color and pattern.

We started by doing the same exercise we did last time, but since I wasn't hugely successful the first time, I was happy to have more practice. We chose a painter whose colors attract us, and then we tried to copy those colors in fabric.

I chose this painting by my favorite Portland artist, William Park.

And my fabric version. I would have liked to have found a bit brighter, bluer green for the background, but this was as close as I had. It's a great challenge and teaches so much about putting together colors you might not naturally go to.

Next we take those colors and create our own small composition with them:

Pamela critiques each step of the way by photoshopping in changes she recommends. A fabulous way to see what works! My first exercise was fine. On this one she suggested a little more modeling with a few more pieces on the trees and mushrooms. I really like the added depth it gives to the mushrooms especially.

Our week 2 assignment was to take another painting we are drawn to and then recreate it in all its complimentary colors. I chose this Matisse:

Warning--this gets really ugly! The compliments make her look ghoulish. But I was really happy that Pamela said I had them all right. It's a huge challenge because you are not only thinking about color compliments, but also trying to find the correct values and intensities in that compliment. And translating from paint to fabric carries its own special challenges. A very worthwhile--but exhausting-- exercise!

You can see the exercises from last year here, here, here and here, and I'll be posting more as the class continues.

Happy Valentines Day!

2011-02-14T16:18:00.000-08:00

We had a Valentine's swap at our art group meeting this month, and this was my card. I wanted to see if I could take Beryl Taylor's reverse applique technique and use it in a shape other than a circle. It works fine, but I still think there are much easier ways to get a similar effect, so more play is needed.

Stirring It Up

2011-01-30T19:31:00.000-08:00

I've been feeling stuck lately so decided to play around with a few new things.

Beryl Taylor had an article in Quilting Arts Dec./Jan. 2011 on machine reverse applique. I thought it would be fun to try using busy black-and-white patterns as my foreground.

You make a set of them:
Then cut them in quarters and rearrange them to make wonky circles:

I think they'd make fun long banners.

I first saw Ro Bruhn play with these here. I love what she did with all the hand embellishment on top and thought I'd do that. But Beryl's directions call for these to be 4" squares, which end up with some pretty tiny, but very thick, little bits. I think I'll try it again with at least a 6" square before I work with hand embellishment on top. This is the sort of project I love because it gets me thinking of all sorts of variations to try next.

The other thing I have been absolutely loving is working through the exercises in Steven Aimone's "Expressive Drawing" book. I first wrote about that here.

Right now I'm doing an exercise where you draw with black paint and then go back in and "erase" with white paint. You work as large as possible, fast and loose. It's fabulously freeing!

And I'm starting another Pamela Allen online workshop this week, so I'm hoping I'll have inspiration coming from all sides.

The Gift

2011-01-16T18:09:00.000-08:00

I had such a wonderful surprise when my art group presented me with a giant bin full of their fabric scraps this week! I delighted in each and every one of them--the good, the bad and the ugly--they will all find a place somewhere. I spread them out on my floor and admired each in detail and let the possibilities flow.

Usually when I haven't worked for a while (Like Now!), I get back into things by playing in a mixed media journal. This time I decided to play with all those new fabric scraps and try a little pocket folder I saw in the Jan./ Feb. issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors. Heidi Sekovski and Karin Winter describe how they make a Folder Journal out of a standard manilla file folder. It reminded me of the very fun journal for Mexico I made in Mary Ann Moss's online Remains of the Day class. You can see that one here.

The Folder Journal is made by sewing paper and fabric onto a manilla folder, then folding and stitching little pockets in it for your journal papers. Here's mine, without any journaling paper in the pockets:

The Front:
The Back:
The In-Between:
It was fun to dig through my new bin of scraps and see what would work. I made a lot of mistakes with this one and found that I would revise their directions next time. If you decide to try one, I recommend adding all the fabric and embellishments that you want before you fold it into the journal shape. Once that's done, you can't get into areas to stitch stuff on. I have enough scraps now, that I just might try another one.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T11:02:00.000-08:00

I'm away from the computer for a while to spend some time with my family. May you all have a holiday season full of joy and peace!

Rejuvenation

2010-12-12T10:57:00.000-08:00

I'm heading to the coast for a little rejuvenation and quiet time with my family this week. I'm taking along these journal prompts. They post a new one every day this month and have some really great topics for contemplating both the past year and the upcoming one. Thanks Maggie for pointing me to those.

I'm looking forward to catching up on blog reading when I return.

A Happy Blur

2010-12-06T10:50:00.000-08:00

We spend so much time getting ready for the show, then it all seems to be over in an instant, sort of like Thanksgiving dinner. But it is such a happy event that it all feels worthwhile, and it just seems to get better every year. Thanks to everyone who was able to come and support the show!

I am always busy until the very last moment setting up my booth, so I have only a smattering of decent pictures to show. You can see all the artist's work over on the Portland Art Collective blog.

Here's my booth this year:

I was planning on just having these little silver and white trees bare for props, but my son told me they didn't look right. At the last minute I decided to add my baubles that I'm planning on using for a bigger project. I was really happy I did. I sold quite a few of them, and I now have a reason to sit and make a lot more.

One of the centerpieces of our show is our dangly tree at the entrance. Many artists make small ornaments and we display them all together for a very dramatic entrance.

And just a sampling of some of the wonderful art.

Lorraine Jones' zen-like hangings which start with the wooden slats from old barrels:

Tammy Vail's hand-dyed tassels.

Dayna Collin's Fearless Faces:

Darlene Veltman's wacky stuffed figures and wall quilt:

Lenall Siebenaler's bright, whimsical paintings.

Paula McNamee's flooded metal, key pendants.

Stephanie Brockway's carved and found wood sculptures.

Tory Brokenshire's found object sculptures:

I apologize for all the wonderful pieces that I didn't get pictures of, but then it would be impossible to capture it all.

I stepped outside on break one evening just in time to catch the sunset in the windows. A spectacular ending to a glorious weekend.

Few More Things

2010-11-30T15:47:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more things I've been working on for the show.

I started these little pillows quite a while ago back here without any direction in mind. They formed into funky little wall hangings. I hung one of these in my kitchen to see how long it takes my two teenage boys to realize that it doesn't really work.

And I've been doing more of my "Delicate Soul" series and enjoying every minute of them.

Now just a few last minute details and I'm all ready for the show. It's always a great weekend of hanging out with art friends in a very festive environment, and I will be very thankful when Sunday arrives and it's all over.

The Art of Repetition

2010-11-26T10:01:00.000-08:00

As I'm busily producing lots and lots of the same items for our show next week, I'm realizing that I actually enjoy repetition. There's something quite relaxing about having a prototype and then repeating it, as long as I can keep playing with color and texture changes.

And I'm finding it's allowing time to let new ideas germinate while my hands are busy. I started a list of After Show Projects, which are probably especially appealing because I can't divert and do any of them right now. Maybe once I have time for them, they won't sound so good after all.

I've been working on a set of larger owls. These ones are about 8" tall.

And a parliament, which I recently learned is the word for a group of owls--how perfect is that?

I like this larger size because it allows even more room to play with layers of texture and color:

They look giant against the small ones, but it's mainly camera angle. The small owls are 4".

This week I received this fabulous little owl from Jacky. I am so thrilled with it! Jacky's owls were one of my inspirations, and I had been coveting one since I first saw them. Not only did I get this sweet little, meticulously stitched beauty, but also a very generous packet of goodies along with it. Thank you Jacky!

I almost forgot to post this wonderful giveaway from Jan Harris this month. Jan is giving away this beautiful coptic stitch journal. I love to work in coptic stitch books because the pages lie perfectly flat, but I never have the patience to make one. Hurry on over to Portland Art Collective blog and leave a comment to enter the giveaway.

Stitching at the Coast

2010-11-21T09:25:00.000-08:00

I'm on a mad dash attending to the zillion little details for our show in less than 2 weeks, but not so busy that I couldn't escape to the coast last week.

My friend, Cindy, was visiting from CA, so we headed to one of our favorite places--Neskowin on the Oregon coast.

I haven't been there in winter and was thrilled to see how dramatic the skies and waves were. We spent most of the week staring out the window and watching the changes as storms passed through:

Unfortunately, the Oregon coast is too dangerous for beach walking in winter, so I had to head inland, which wasn't such a bad thing.

Lots of beauty there:

Magic mushrooms sprouting everywhere:

And it was perfect weather for sitting inside, talking and stitching. Cindy was working on these confections:

And I was very happy working on my pile of baubles:

I would love to get them put into a large piece for the show, but not sure if that will happen. Maybe I just have a very good start on next year's show.

We rounded out our week with lots of good food, antique shops and estate sales and were two very happy girls. (Cindy's the cute blond and I'm the not-too-much-brunette-left.)

Delicate Souls

2010-11-06T15:46:00.000-07:00

I have been busily finishing up pieces for our Dec. show. I decided to take some of my favorite faces from my 2 weeks of face experiments starting here, and turn them into finished pieces. I'm calling this my "Delicate Soul" series since they all feel very gentle to me. I've been framing them in fragile fabrics full of soft frays and giving them just a line of text as it comes to me while I'm working on them.

I'm thrilled with the hanging device I came up with. I stitch a clear straw on the back and thread a string through it for hanging. It keeps the piece feather weight yet gives it support at the top. You can barely see it here, which is why I'm so happy with it.

If you are interested in art journaling, Paula has a very fun art journaling zine giveaway over here.

Color Inspiration

2010-10-31T11:09:00.000-07:00

I can't leave Mexico behind without a final burst of color. It's everywhere!

The doors:

Mosaics:
Chandeliers:
Flowers in store windows:
And on the streets:
Color to eat:
And to drink:
Color Parades:
And their aftermath:
So what did I work on the whole time I was there? These white-on-white bits! These are approximately 2" baubles for a large project I have in mind. I want to do one in color, but it always feels easier to start with a white-on-white version to get my bearings and focus on design instead of color. And it's much easier to grab a small bag of whites for travel.
But as soon as I got home, I decided I needed to jump into color again.
More on these soon.

Faces of Mexico

2010-10-26T18:47:00.000-07:00

Lots of inspiring faces around San Miguel.

And a few from my journal pages. These lovelies were part of the extensive artwork in the house we stayed in:

And these were from one of my favorite spots-- Casa de la Cuesta, a private mask museum:

San Miguel, Mexico

2010-10-22T14:27:00.000-07:00

I've barely returned to my senses after my amazing trip to San Miguel and am now off for the weekend to our fall art retreat. Thought I'd make a stab at my way-too-many pictures before I go.

San Miguel is a beautiful colonial town set in the mountains about three hours north of Mexico City. It reaffirmed how magnificent that country is for me and how deeply it moves me aesthetically.

This gorgeous church is the centerpiece of the town:

And inside:
I thought I was heading out for a quiet sketching vacation, but was quickly disillusioned on our first night by the 4:00 A. M. fireworks and ringing of church bells. Turns out we were there during Mexico's bi-centennial celebration as well as San Miguel's patron saint's day. I got very little sketching done as we ran to keep up with all the festivities.

Huge, beautiful shrines made of marigolds and a sort of palm leaf were carried in parades and then displayed around the church.

And oh the parades! Dancers, each group in different native costumes, came from all over the country:

My favorite part of the parades were the giant paper mache figures, mojigangas. Cynthia turned out to be a fabulous tour guide for us and arranged to get us into the studio where they were made where we could talk to the artist:

Another grand tour she set up for us was a visit to outsider artist Anado MacLachlan's wonderful mosaic and found object home. His mosaics cover almost every surface:

He uses a lot of old bottles. These are set in old box springs:

And these surround a lovely bathtub shrine:

His plaque sums it up nicely:

I'll be posting more soon after my retreat. You can also check out Paula and Cynthia's blogs for more photos.

And don't miss the great give away over at Portland Art Collective this month. Tory Brokenshire is giving away one of her chandelier glass journals and they are to die for!

Off to Mexico

2010-09-29T09:00:00.000-07:00

I'm heading out for a couple weeks in San Miguel, Mexico. I'm traveling with my sketching buddies Cynthia and Paula, so I had to make some sketchbooks before I go. For my first one I wanted something bold and graphic, filled with plain watercolor paper:

I also wanted to take a journal full of different kinds of paper to change up my sketching some. I've been so inspired by the Remains of the Day journals I've seen from Mary Ann Moss' class, that I decided to sign up and make one of my own. It's a great online class. I'm sure I could have figured things out by looking at other's journals, but I would have spent a lot of time reinventing the wheel. It's a fun class and full of tips.

My Remains of the Day journal is inspired by the gorgeous hand dyed colors I saw while in Oaxaca:

Here's my cover:

And the back:

I wanted to mix the pages up with lots of different paper and leave a lot more blank space than Mary Ann does, so I have room for sketches.

I'm eager to play in this one and am hoping the challenge of different paper pushes my sketching in some new directions.

See you mid-October!

Color Play

2010-09-25T18:55:00.000-07:00

I love thinking about color, learning about color, and just plain playing around with color. Most books on color that I look at are the same old, same old--color wheel, analogous colors, complimentary colors........ This one is refreshingly different.

Most of the exercises in the book have you working with color intuitively. I liked this exercise of making a simple grid, starting by choosing the center square color, and then working out from there quickly with whatever color feels right. I did them with a small, cheap box of crayons, so I didn't get much range of color. They'd be a lot of fun with a nicer set of colored pencils or paint. These are suppose to be the elements fire, water, air, and earth.

She also works with designer color samples, which seemed like they would be great to have until I found out they cost $100. I decided to make my own by cutting up paint chips (yes, I just happened to have that many paint chips lying around--I never can resist a handful when I see them.)

I started ad libbing my own exercises and pulling palettes based on color schemes that surprise or inspire me.

Fallen plums--came from seeing plums on the ground in the alley. The plums were cracked open and sitting on dirt and stones.

Bakery Bar--the decor of a favorite haunt:

Enchiladas--self-explanatory:

I often fall back on favorite color combinations, so it's a fun way to stir things up a bit.

Summer sketches

2010-09-15T17:21:00.001-07:00

This week marks the official end of summer for me as my boys start back to school this week and next. I've been enjoying our mild summer and meeting every Tues. with my sketching group for outings around Portland. Here's a little farewell to summer sketching as we no doubt will be returning inside soon.

View of the Rose Festival from east side of the river:

The Rose Garden in full bloom this year:

One of my favorite spots is Hughes water garden, full of lily ponds, fountains and gorgeous displays:

McMenamin' Edgefield with intriguing angles and architecture:

Lake Oswego's display of public art:
And Luscher Farms community garden:

I was just talking to a friend about why my sketches don't look anything like my fiber work or my paintings. I'm not sure why that is. I'm wondering if it is because my training in drawing was all very precise, or if I freeze up too much when I start working realistically. Maybe it's that I fall back on ink and watercolor because it's portable. Whatever it is, I'd like to have the same freedom and looseness in sketching that I do in my other work.

I'm intrigued by this book by Stephen Aimone. Lots of fun exercises for expressive drawing (mainly abstract) that I want to try.

And I really like this playful new book by Carla Sonheim.
She encourages lots of quick playful sketches. Here's Jack in action.

I'm hoping they take my fall sketches in a whole new direction.

Z'anne is giving away a lovely turquoise and coral necklace over on my art group's blog this month. Stop by and leave a comment to enter the drawing.

Back to the Dots

2010-09-05T16:58:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be traveling later this fall, so I've decided to use Sept. to get lots of my little gift items ready for my art group's Dec. show.

Last year I made little dots of fabric and put them everywhere. You can see them here and here.

They were so much fun to play with that they will be reappearing in new forms this year.

I'm restocking my little hearts since they sold out last year. This year I'm experimenting with using big, graphic black and white prints as the backgrounds:

And I'm making some fantasy landscape bookmarks:

And my dots make perfect owl eyes. I'm trying some larger guys:

If you are in the Portland area, mark your calendars for Dec. 3 and 4 at Multnomah Art Center. It's always a really fun show.

Owl Tweaking

2010-08-21T12:33:00.000-07:00

I have been taking the lazy days of summer way too seriously and have gotten very little done lately. Just been playing around with a few owl variations, trying to find out which background fabrics work best.

Dayna is giving away a cool paper remnant journal on our art group's blog this month. I watched her make these on our retreat and have been coveting one. Go here and leave a comment to enter the drawing.

Online class list

2010-08-12T14:40:00.001-07:00

I am a big fan of online classes. I enjoy being able to work at my own pace and have all my supplies at hand. I've tried to list some of the ones I find interesting in my sidebar, but can't keep up with all the new ones.

Now there is a site that keeps track of them. And they are giving away free online classes each day right now.

Check it out here.

Danglies 2010

2010-08-08T16:01:00.000-07:00

I've been slow getting back into the swing of things after my last vacation, but finally got moving again.

Every year in my art group's Dec. show, we set up a bare-branched tree that gets covered in a variety of artist ornaments. It's one of my favorite things in our show, and I love to participate. In the past years I've made houses, birds, and hearts. This year after collecting many pictures of owls out of catalogs and seeing these and these which I love, I decided to play with my own.

Lots of tufts of texture and graffiti fabrics as I pulled from my favorite elements:

Took quite a few false starts, but I'm finally happy with these funky little guys:

I'm also considering doing a second ornament this year using painted faces, but they still have a long way to go until I'm happy with them:

Face #14

2010-07-19T19:34:00.001-07:00

What if I use single threads, cross-hatch style like colored pencil?

This wasn't quite what I had in mind. It got too fussy as I started building up layers, so I decided to try to keep it simple. Need to play around with this technique more.

I have guests staying with me for a week, then a trip to Seattle, so this will be the end of the faces, at least for a while. I really enjoy working in a series like this. It seems for every one I do, I get two new ideas for more. Thanks for following along!

Face #13

2010-07-18T21:36:00.001-07:00

What if I piece a background out of printed silks, then machine embroider from the back side?

I didn't like the stark white area so put a printed sheer on top. Didn't love the line from the machine stitching, so I hand embroidered to get more variety in it:

Too much going on, so I toned some of the background down with white patches:

Face #12

2010-07-17T19:53:00.000-07:00

What if I start with a painted line drawing and fill in color book style?

This one was challenging. I tried to fill in all the way with color, but it became too much. I finally decided to keep part of it sketchy and was much happier with it.

Someone asked me what I'm going to do with all these faces. I have no plans at all. I'm just enjoying experimenting and will probably come back to work with favorites later. But maybe not.

Face #11

2010-07-15T20:31:00.000-07:00

What if I build up features sculpturally using white on white?

I wanted to keep this light and transparent to integrate it with the background, but it does tend to disappear. I'd like to try it again on a dark background.

Face #10

2010-07-14T17:24:00.001-07:00

What if I try hand embroidery on top of the pieced background?

I experimented with using 1, 3, 4 and 6 strands of floss to get some different line weights. I love what happened on the back, especially those little running stitches:

Working from the back side will definitely be a future "what if"!

Faces 8, 9

2010-07-13T19:33:00.001-07:00

A new direction. What if I start with a patched background?

I found fabrics with lots of white in them, hoping the face would show up better that way. This ended up reminding me of my Mom's old hankies:

First--What if I machine stitch directly on it?

I had to fight the print so much that it ended up being overworked. Sometimes, though, I think the ones that don't work are more useful than the ones that do. This led me to thinking of all sorts of other approaches to using a pieced background.

What if I do the face on sheers and attach? Since I had Face #7 on organza sitting here, I attached it on top and left it floating on the bottom. I had a bit of text "She likes to float" left over from my little boat piece a while back and it seemed to belong there.

Face #7

2010-07-12T15:46:00.001-07:00

What if I reduce it down as simply as possible and just add a few stitches of color to a line drawing?

Not nearly as dramatic as the last one, but may have its place in a quiet corner. This technique was inspired by seeing the back of face #6. I like the looser rambling hand stitches here:

End of my one week challenge already--that went fast! I'm having too much fun to stop, so will continue til I hit a wall.

Face #6

2010-07-11T19:28:00.000-07:00

What if I simplify my approach from yesterday to allow some of the white and line drawing to show?

Face #4

2010-07-10T19:26:00.000-07:00

What if I start with a line drawing done on machine and add sheers like a watercolor wash?

Face (s) #3

2010-07-09T16:05:00.000-07:00

What if I make the features in separate pieces then mix them up Mr. Potato Head style?

They pop on a neutral potato:

What if I put them on more energetic backgrounds?

What if I can't stop making these to try the next What If?

Face #2

2010-07-08T17:17:00.000-07:00

#2 in my week of faces challenge-- What If I started with a busy print background and worked from there?

And since I didn't explain face #1 posted yesterday--What if I used all sheers to create vague features?

Struggling with Story

2010-07-07T12:13:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I feel like I hit a wall, especially when my pieces feel like they've become soulless. I was at that point so was very happy to start an online class with Jude Hill on Story Cloths, hoping to get back to something deeper in my work. The thing I most admire in Jude's work is her connection to the fabric and the deep meaning behind every stitch she takes--something I felt I had been drifting away from.

The online class is, as to be expected, wonderful, but I've found myself struggling with the concept of using a story in my work. Jude uses the term "story" pretty loosely. Sometimes there might be a clear narrative and figurative pieces that have almost a fairytale quality to them as a story unfolds. I like seeing others do this, but it is not me. Sometimes, for Jude, a story is more nebulous, more the way the cloth speaks to you as it goes. (At least I think that's how she interprets it.)

After wrestling with the concept, I decided my piece had to be about where I was right now. I wanted to create something about emerging from periods of darkness.

I started with a solid black background, a base of darkness. Then layered on dark pieces that had vague bits of light to them.

Thinking about how moods always cycle in and out, I added some circles of dark and light, using a technique for frayed edge applique that Jude showed. (oh how I love this technique--it's hard for me not to use it for everything now!).

I stalled on my story until I found this Persian proverb in a book I was reading:

That seemed to give me direction. I wanted a face that was vague and uncertain, with some lightness emerging out of the dark.

And stars that appear as cracks in the darkness.

It's funny that when I started laying it out all together, it looks much more bright and joyful than I thought it would:

Another nice thing that has happened along the way is I've returned to my love of faces. I have been collecting pages of "what if" ideas for doing fabric faces, some so old that I've forgotten what the notes mean. I've been inspired by my friend Z'anne--who is making a pair of earrings every day for a year--and decided to give myself a challenge, with a much lower bar, of posting a new face experiment every day for a week.

A Nautical Treat

2010-07-01T15:18:00.000-07:00

Last night Dayna held a little party for our art group aboard her yacht! She and her husband Howard, the ultimate hosts, are parked (I'm sure there's a more precise boating term to use here) at the Portland waterfront, among many other boats, for the blues festival this weekend. It was one of those magical nights with perfect weather and a crystal clear view.

Everyone outdid themselves with the potluck goodies:

We sipped wine on the deck and thought we must look like the Real Housewives of Portland, minus the plastic surgery. Here's Cynthia, Lenall and Lorraine:

Steph, Dayna, Carrie and Jill:

The whole gang of happy girls. Howard graciously snapped photos using each of our cameras:

I have been taking Jude's online Story Cloth class (more soon), and made this little piece as a thank you for Dayna:
It was huge treat to get to step into a different world for the evening! Thank you Dayna and Howard!

Inspiration

2010-06-25T17:03:00.001-07:00

I'm a big admirer of Heike's work over at Gerdiary. I love her restraint with color and her subtle shifts of texture. Her work always seems to have a calming effect to it. So I was very happy when this little piece arrived in the mail for a touch of calm inspiration for my studio wall. Her gentle touch is even better in person.

I've also been finding this book very inspirational. It has many artists whom I've never seen before. And an added bonus is Heike's work is included here too.

Hard to read on that yellow background, but it's 1000 Artisan Textiles by Sandra Salamony and Gina M. Brown.

Ashland

2010-06-22T10:12:00.001-07:00

We took our annual pilgrimage to the Shakespeare festival in Ashland, OR this week, so I haven't gotten much else done.

The week was full of plays (great season if you are in the area) and enjoying the beauty of Ashland.

Colorful window displays:

Great art in and out of galleries:

My favorite costume on display:

A highlight of the trip is always spending time in the gorgeous Lithia Park. This time I collected bark patterns for inspiration:

Variegated Dyeing--Tutorial

2010-06-15T15:20:00.000-07:00

I've been asked a number of times how I dye the variegated thread. It's very simple! This has become my favorite thread to stitch with in either variegated or solids. It ends up with a smooth finish and nice sheen.

I use standard, mercerized cotton crochet thread.

I make hanks of about 20 wraps around my hand and elbow:

Then tie each end with a loose wire. If you make it too tight, you'll end up with white spots there:

Soak the thread in soda ash solution about 20 mins. Wring out extra liquid and it's ready to dye in Procion dyes. I first dip the middle third in one color. (Sorry no dye in the pot, but you can imagine it.)

Then I dip each of the ends in a different color. You can see the three colors on this ribbon I dyed using the same method:

As with any dyeing, I put the thread in a plastic container, let it sit overnight, then rinse out excess dye.

I've been dyeing old rayon seam binding (who uses that anymore?) using this same method. It looks almost as beautiful as silk ribbon and costs almost nothing at thrift stores!

Dreams of Summer

2010-06-11T14:57:00.000-07:00

We are still having gray days in Portland, so I needed to make a little summer of my own.

I've loved this book for a long time, especially her use of the quilting line:

I decided to play around with some simple piecing, mainly using my hand dyed fabrics:

And I experimented with letting the stitching line 1. stay within a patch, 2. outline a shape, 3. join patches together and 4. extend into the border:

I'm now dreaming of a 4 seasons series since we have had only one long winter this year.

Little Pillows

2010-05-31T19:56:00.001-07:00

I've been on the run so much lately that I needed an easy, portable project. I was reminded of making little pillows that get joined together into bigger pieces after watching Teesha's tutorial.

I had made these in the past, but Teesha's approach is a little different. She stuffs them with fiberfil instead of batting for a very fat, textural pillow.

After they are stuffed, the edges are rolled and stitched, then the quilting stitch added to the pillow. I might join them together to make the covers of journals:

Or maybe a long wall hanging:

Or maybe they will just sit in a pile on my desk.

Retreat Weekend

2010-05-24T14:11:00.001-07:00

We had our annual Portland Art Collective spring retreat this weekend at the Menucha Center in the Columbia Gorge.

Beauty outside:

A labyrinth nestled in the forest for a little centering:

And beauty inside.

The beginning of Cynthia's prayer flags:

Tammy's book art:

Debi's doodle painting:

Jennifer's metal hearts:

The beginning of Stephanie's puppet theatre:

Sometimes all you can do is count your blessings.

Wild and Funky

2010-05-20T09:48:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I made this purse for myself:

My sister asked me to make a long pillow for her bed in her colors using this technique. So finally, for her 50th birthday this month, I got this done for her:

Colors are more accurate in this close-up:

Having my younger sister turn 50 really makes me feel old--that seems worse than turning 50 myself!

Fun giveaway--my friend Paula is giving away a lovely crocheted wire and bead necklace. Go here and leave a comment to enter.

Journal pages

2010-05-16T15:51:00.001-07:00

Wrapping up my Chicago week with a few pages from my journal. It's a mix of sketch, collage and notes:

And what my tray looked like on my trip home. More about this project later:

I am thrilled with this crochet thread I dyed in variegated colors. Now I need more:

Art in Chicago

2010-05-12T15:08:00.000-07:00

A few arty things around Chicago--

Lots of nice public art. My favorite was this huge Chagall mosaic. It's a large block, probably 10 ft. x 60 ft. and 20 ft. high--all covered in mosaic.

I think "The Bean" is a brilliant piece of public art. I love the way it reflects the city and the people around it.

And everyone interacts with it, either snapping their own photos to get those fun house mirror effects, as I did, or crawling under it. I don't know when I've seen people interact with a piece of art more than this one.

Several bits really caught my attention at the Contemporary Art Museum. This exhibit was so absolutely weird, but I found myself looking at it for a long time. Mike Kelley, the artist, gathered all these old handmade toys at thrift stores. He displays them in groups such as marine life, birds, dogs, as if they are scientific exhibits, with corresponding charts on the wall. It's this weird mix of science exhibit/church craft sale set up on card tables.

It was really touching, though, to see what sort of things people make, and what sort of things they throw out.

I also was inspired by this flower curtain and the simple idea of attaching bits of silk flowers together to form a type of lace:

My Heart Skips a Beat--Chicago

2010-05-10T13:58:00.001-07:00

A friend once read me her favorite poem by Mary Oliver, and it ended with the speaker being filled with a moment of transcendence upon turning a corner and spying a deer (my lousy paraphrase!). I responded with something like, "umm, yeah that's nice" but didn't have any real

connection with the poem. Later I was driving into San Francisco on a route I had never taken, came over a hill and saw the Golden Gate bridge sparkling in the sunlight. I actually gasped at its beauty and realized I had found my "deer."

It's not that I don't enjoy the occasional moment in nature, but my heart really skips a beat at city sights. Here are a few of my "deer" from Chicago:

Great Return

2010-05-09T15:20:00.000-07:00

I got home from Chicago (more soon) to find some wonderful surprises waiting for me.

First from Carolyn at Loves Stitching Red, this beautiful heart! Carolyn was one of the winners of my heart giveaways and surprised me with this lovely one in return! It's fabulously textural, and the frothy lace and shell make me think of the beach at night.

If you are not already a follower of Carolyn's blogs, make sure you check them out. Loves Stitching Red follows her explorations with color and many other delights, while her other blog focuses on her experiments with stones and subtle colors. I love them both! Thanks Carolyn!

A while back a representative from Strathmore paper company asked if they could use one of my journal spreads to illustrate what's happening in art journaling to art supply stores. In return, they would send me their latest products. I returned home to a big box full of their newest art journals and am thrilled by them!

They come in 3 sizes 3.5"x5", 5.5"x8", and 9"x12", and each size comes in a range of papers including heavy drawing paper, Bristol, 90 lb. watercolor or 140 lb. watercolor. You can tear off the cover sheet you see above to have a nice brown journal. The front and back covers are both heavy board, perfect for splashing on paint or collage. And the spiral is thick and strong. If you like to get messy in a journal and glue and paint, check these out. They'll be in stores in June.

To all you fellow moms out there, Happy Mother's Day! One Portland tradition is to take moms out to the rhododendron garden which is in full bloom this time of year. I enjoyed the day there with my boys and send a few sun-drenched rhodies your way.

I'm Off

2010-04-24T10:58:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things to do is to explore a city I've never been to before, so I'm happily off to Chicago for the week. I made a little sketching journal out of my newly dyed fabrics that I hope to fill while there. See you next week!

Santos Workshop

2010-04-12T21:37:00.001-07:00

One of the great things about being in a mixed media group of artists is that I'm often introduced to materials and techniques that challenge me and are things I wouldn't necessarily try on my own.

Recently Gaylen had a gallery show of her work featuring her beautiful Santos. She offered to show some of us how to make them after we ooohed and ahhhed over her exhibit. 3-D work and using power tools are way out of my comfort zone, but I decided to give it a try. We met at Kitty's studio in the country this weekend for step two of the process.

It was one of those perfect spring days.

Kitty's property is a feast in itself. She has commissioned beautiful pieces from many local artists.

Even the downspouts are works of art:

One of my favorites was this ceramic mosaic on an outside wall:

I'm on the left playing with shooting pictures through the outdoor mirror along with Dayna and Tory:

The Santos project was inspired by Gaelyn, but Tory taught us how to make beautiful, unique heads that took them in a different direction. And Stephanie, our wood carver, made each of us a wooden frame to speed up the project and let us get to the fun stuff more quickly.

Here is Tory's gorgeous Santos that got us on our way:

It was an amazing day as we watched each artist give her Santos its own personality.

Paula's had a calm simplicity:

Gloria's reminded us of Cirque du Soleil:

Jennifer's quirky Venetian character:

Kitty's very expressive face:

Stephanie and Dayna's winged wonders:

And Tory started on another colorful character:

We gathered together at the end of the day:

From left, Stephanie, Paula, Dayna, Kitty, Gloria, Jennifer, Tory and Gaylen.

I added a few finishing touches to mine once I got home:

She will preside over my studio as my Santos of Hand Stitching. It was so much fun that I'm now feeling the urge to make a second-- "Our Lady of Perpetual Color."

Not Much

2010-04-07T15:27:00.001-07:00

Been in one of those creative funks this week when nothing seems worth doing.

Did a bit of sketching to play with Derwent Inktense pencils. I like. They look like a watercolor pencil but are ink. After you add water, they are waterproof and nice and intense in color.

And when all else fails, I take out my journal and do some quick painting and collage just to be moving.

And then I wait.

My Dye Retreat

2010-03-26T16:15:00.001-07:00

Several issues ago, Pokey Bolton (Quilting Arts) mentioned taking a week to have a personal surface design retreat in her own studio. She set aside that time to play with all the techniques and materials she had been accumulating. I love this idea and decided to do the same with dyeing techniques this week. I quickly found out that unless I find a way to lose my family and dog, it's not quite a retreat experience, but at least I did get some focused time to explore. My dyeing has always been hit or miss, so I wanted to find out what really works for me.

I started by building up my supply of graffiti fabrics:

I paint black and white pieces using anything I can find: brushes, sticks, credit cards, and my favorite, a bundle of fresh pine needles:

Some of these pieces stay black and white, others get overdyed. I compared the difference in using my standard acrylics and using the Jacquard textile paints. There's not a huge difference, but the Jacquard does dry more pliable. It feels like the regular acrylic may want to flake off eventually.

The first thing I wanted to dye were sheers to return to using them in ways I did here and here:
I dyed silk chiffon, silk gauze, found patterned sheers, and my new favorite--silk organza (it's the one on the far left--super smooth and sheer.) I love what Jude is doing here with light silks by blending them into the background with lots of kantha stitch. I'd like to try some of that with the sheers.

I played with some basic shibori techniques.

Gathering stitches:

And pole wrapping:

Some of my favorite bits came from the simplest technique, the crystal wash low immersion process. You can read about it on the Dharma Trading site here.

I love how some of these automatically get a piece started. That last one just begs to be a spring bouquet.

And then I played with some luscious burn out velvets:

I have to have another retreat next week because I didn't get to discharge dyeing yet.

Back to Stitching

2010-03-20T18:18:00.001-07:00

Last Pamela Allen exercise

2010-03-13T11:23:00.001-08:00

Finishing up my Pamela Allen class. The last exercise was to do a narrative piece. We started by critiquing artwork with a focus on how the artistic elements tell a story, even in something like a still life. Then we needed to come up with one of our own.

It was a very chaotic week for me, and I had just gotten a new book by Gail Godwin, a favorite author. I was marveling at how I could completely slip away from the chaos and lose myself in the book, and decided to try to make a piece capturing that.

I submitted 2 slightly different versions for critique.

I was afraid the first one was too overpowered by the flower background, so I tamed the background, but felt it lost something and became too static:

Pamela said she felt both pieces worked but conveyed slightly different feelings. She pointed out that the first, with the darker shading on the face created more anxiety and made the woman look like she was trying to read in the chaos, but finding it hard. The second was overall calmer.

There were strong opinions from the group on both sides about whether the flowers overpowered or not. I decided I wanted that overwhelming feeling, but created a bit of a corner to help her pop a bit.

It was a fun and challenging exercise, but I don't know that it's anything I'll continue with.

But I did love the class! Here's what I'm taking from it:

I like Pamela's technique of cutting freeform and using a gluestick to anchor pieces. It's a great way to establish an overall composition before going on to details.
I'm reminded to look to masters for lessons in composition and color.
Think primarily about shape first and find ways to make shapes pop by varying the background.
It's fabulous to find a great teacher to critique your work!!!

I highly recommend taking one of her classes!

A Break for Style

2010-03-05T11:41:00.001-08:00

It's funny Pamela Allen's class is called "About Style" and is supposed to be about finding your own personal style, yet I seem to be getting farther and farther away from my own style each week. I'm not complaining--I still adore the class and am learning so much, but I'm so focused on composition and design that I never seem to have time to apply my own style to the weekly exercises.

So I needed a little nightly break to get my hands back into my own thing.

My good friend Cindy gave me this luscious pile of scraps. They are leftovers from a San Francisco fashion designer and include fabulous little bits, some even with seams or pinked edges.

I've been putting them together into a background fabric with no real direction in mind yet.

Pamela Allen Exercises--week 3

2010-03-02T16:31:00.000-08:00

Week 3 of my online Pamela Allen class was the grand cubism challenge. This was a tough one but a great way to wrestle with composition. We started by looking at cubist paintings. For our own pieces, we chose an object and fractured it in some way. Then tried to find its essence and add bits that picked up on that or on details in the object. And we were thinking again about creating contrast to make elements pop and working with positive and negative space.

My first attempt was close:

Pamela's only critique was that the additional fracture in the pitcher made it a little hard to read. I took that out and also decided I didn't like the white bits in that background fabric so switched to the polka dots:

For my second piece, I played with a fern shape:

Pamela thought the fabric in the upper left had too many busy lines, so I switched that out and do like this version better:

I felt like I was working on a giant puzzle this week. I'd get one area right, but then it would throw off something else. Frustrating at times, but I learned a ton.

Pamela Allen Exercises--week 2

2010-02-20T13:19:00.000-08:00

This week we focused on moving away from cliched plant images and coming up with our own. Pamela encouraged us to look at the work of masters, so I went through and sketched plant forms from 20c. art then doodled a couple pages of my own.

I though I'd use my sketches as starting points, but once I began, I found it was a lot more fun to just browse through my fabric and let bits of it determine my plants:

I then did a small study based on Paul Klee's plants:

Our big project for the week was to put together a garden scene, paying close attention to composition. I was thinking of our gray spring days when bits of light shine through.

Pamela suggested toning down my bright spots as they catch the eye too much. Here is her revision:

I'm still pondering this one. I think a little more spark is necessary, so I've left this one on my wall for a while. I think I'm going to be compromising somewhere between my version and Pamela's.

It was a fabulous week of composition instruction. It's been really fun to see all the gardens that people came up with, each with its own personality. I can't tell you how valuable it is to see Pamela's critiques of every piece!

Happy Valentines Day!

2010-02-14T15:09:00.000-08:00