Roots

Last night I unearthed this as I going through some stuff. Lately, with all the painting and altering I've been doing with fabric I've forgotten what a supreme joy it is to just piece soft cloth together in pleasing patterns. I feel the call to visit my roots and plan to do so.

Strung Up Heart

We are often on the fence when it comes to who we will give our loving-ness to and how much. Today I was thinking about how difficult - at times - it can be to be loving. Busy lives filled with pressures and stress - worries, concerns and to-do lists can keep us from caring about others. But what do our achievements and how many tasks we've completed in a day amount to in the long run? Are these the thoughts and memories that will sustain and bring a smile to our face when we are old and no longer able to franticly run around? One of the gifts and swords of age is the wisdom of understanding - very clearly - our mortality. Our lives can change in the blink of an eye and the chance to spread our loving-ness to another may be lost. I'm going to try for a bit more softness towards both myself and others. To be a loving person doesn't mean that I have to love everyone, it means that I can try to find the kindness in my heart to be gracious in both my thoughts and deeds.

Acrylic paint, altered with alcohol on cloth; painted cheesecloth; hand embroidery - 4x6" art quiltlet postcard

Window Seat

Friday nights are Altered Art nights in Montgomery, NY at the Handmade Gallery. This is a nice time where we get together to chat and create art. What is really special is there is a mood of cooperation...no pressures, no ego trips - just people gathering together to share doing something we enjoy.

This is another collage for Virginia Spiegel's benefit auction for the American Cancer Association.
http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/NewFiles/ACSFundraiser.html
It features a photo I took of a cabin in the Adirondacks (doesn't it just beckon you to come on in and rest for awhile?), dyed/painted/stamped interfacing, modeling paste, acrylics, pigments and cheesecloth.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

After the Thaw

Cloth painted with acrylics and altered with alcohol...free motion quilted...hand embroidery...attached cheesecloth....I love these colors! Only thing left to do is to bind it.

Bright with a capital B

I like doing hearts and what better time of year to use this imagery? I'm happy with how bright this piece turned out. It still needs some more stitching (but not too much) and some hand stitched accents (but not too many) - if you click on the photo to enlarge it you will see the machine and hand stitching already added.

It reminds me of spring and rebirth. Maybe I'll call it 'After the Thaw'!

I'm going to gift this to a great internet friend who helped edit the article that will be published in that national magazine (April/May issue I was told). Melanie's help was invaluable and greatly appreciated. I'd link to her blog but she hasn't one (yet) but wait until she does have one and you see her art work! Fantastic!

Moon Dance

Last night there was a full moon and the stars were brilliant. It was the 3 C's - cold, crisp and clear....beautiful...

Cloth with matte gelled tissue paper, painted and altered with alcohol, free motion quilting, hand embroidered accents.

Intertwined Hearts

There is a smallish art & workshop gallery near me http://wallkillriverschool.com/Page_1.html that carries my work in the handmade gallery portion of their storefront. They have asked me if I'm interested in conducting a workshop. Of course I am but on what? Since I want to try to keep the word quilt out of it (you know, so people don't think this is a course in how to do Log Cabin blocks) I wonder if I should develop something that combines collage elements. Maybe how to use water soluable stabilizer to make 'fabric' and then how to embellish it? Such as the piece above.....

This piece is offered in my Etsy store.

Organic

Sometimes I think my art work crawled up out of the earth and found its way into my studio. I so much admire bright art that is vibrant and dancing with color. I wouldn't characterize my work as drab but it is definitely organic both in its palette and sensibility. To quote Popeye, "I ams what I ams and that's all I ams".

The first piece is painted cloth with tissue paper matte gelled onto it. It will be enhanced with hand stitching and - probably - other embellishments.

The second piece is cloth made from water soluable stablizer that is being further textured with hand stitching and dyed cheesecloth.

Blue U & Eve

I received this lovely lady in the mail yesterday. It was an appreciation gift from Virginia Spiegel thanking me for submitting an art piece for the Collage Mania II she is hosting to benefit the American Cancer Society. Sometimes I am a Blue U! I love this ATC. Virginia textured the finished over the piece - in real life it adds great dimension and depth that isn't captured very well in this photo. To check out more about the American Society benefit auctions please click on the link below:

http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/NewFiles/ACSFundraiser.html

This is a 4x6" piece I finished last night. I call it Eve and it features hand dyed fabrics and hand applique. I think I'm going to offer this on Etsy.

Nobel Awarded Pete Seeger?

Apparently there is A Movement gathering signatures seeking a Nobel Peace Prize for Pete Seeger. This is a man who has quietly gone about his business of influencing both our culture and environment. How powerful are songs? Is there anyone that doesn't hear Pete's "Turn, Turn, Turn", "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" and "If I Had a Hammer" and not feel the emotions of both the civil rights campaigns and anti-war sentiments of the 1960's in America? Is there anyone who hears these songs and doesn't start to feel even the tiniest spark of a bond with fellow humans? How many people know that in 1969 Pete and fellow activists sailed the Sloop Clearwater up and down the Eastern Seaboard raising money and consciousness about pollution and our environment? This was the beginning of the clean water movement that, besides being instrumental in cleaning up Seeger's beloved Hudson River, has sparked awareness of pollution in every city and town across America.

Click on this link to learn more about Pete and this movement. Even if a Nobel Prize isn't in his future Pete Seeger is certainly a man who deserves recognition and honor for the impact he has had on society - both nationally and internationally.

http://www.nobelprize4pete.org/

A Gift

Yesterday morning as I was feeling decidedly unblessed I received an email from a woman I did not know. This woman wrote to tell me how much one of my pieces that recently sold (to someone else) meant to her. She is very ill and explained that she wanted to buy the piece but is on a very limited income due to the cost of her medications.

Side Note: When are we as - supposedly - the most developed country in the world going to provide healthcare that is adequate and affordable to ALL of our citizens?

This lovely lady told me that my piece 'Cradle Me' represented to her the faith she has that she is not in control and there is a power much greater who will take care of her and that everything is the way its suppose to be. Her note brought tears to my eyes.

I will - of course - be sending her an art piece free of charge. Knowing that my work was able to touch someone so deeply is a gift that no amount of money can buy.

The piece above is a 4x6" postcard that is a small study for a larger work I'm planning.....painted cloth, free motion quilting and hand embroidery.

Climb Every Mountain

Painted this on cloth yesterday. Needs some enhancement, wouldn't you say? Maybe some free motion stitching? Some hand work? Perhaps some threads? Maybe a vintage sequin or two up in the sky? I see lots of French Knots dropped in the bottom field....I see swirling wind in the sky...anything thing you see?

No Cloth!

My husband is a direct descendant of the Protestant French Huguenots who were persecuted and exiled by another religious faith in the 16th and 17th centuries. Many eventually ended up coming to the New World. Quite a number settled in New Paltz, NY and many of their beautiful stone homes still stand today. My husband's roots run deep here in Ulster County. Sometimes we talk of moving away to somewhere different - maybe thinking the grass is greener in another part of the country (no doubt the taxes would be cheaper). I believe in dreaming but I suspect it would be very difficult for either one of us to leave this beautiful location and our heritage. Oh! What does this little story have to do with the photo? The window is a picture my daughter took of a window in one these restored stone houses.

This collage was created by glueing the photo onto an 8x10" mat board and then applying modeling paste in 2 layers. After the modeling paste dried I glued a piece of this cool tape that looks like screening Steve had in the basement. Then I went to work with acrylic paints, alcohol and a soft rag.

8x10" Mixed Media Collage

This photo is rather bad but wanted to post this 8x10" collage I finished this morning (yes, before going to my day job!). The focal piece is painted cloth with attached handmade paper and embroidered accents. There's also a bit of blue sparkley pigment in the upper left portion. This piece was then attached to a black mat board with dyed cheesecloth and embellished with blue and bronze pigments. I call it Magic Carpet Ride.

Still Emerging

The birth of spring is progressing....added some more free motion stitching and wisps of cheesecloth...more additions to come....

On another note, I'd like to take a minute to thank Melanie who I 'met' through this blog. She is assisting me with editing the article I am writing. Her professional comments and thoughts are invaluable and greatly appreciated. Such a wonderful network we have here in internet art quilt land!

Cityscape

Yesterday I was messing around with paints, papers, screens and fabric. This happened (clicking on the photo will enlarge it and you can see some of the details). I don't know what it's going to become in it's next life (a post card? a collage for Virginia's ACS benefit http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/NewFiles/ACSFundraiser.html ? as part of a larger piece?) but I do know that I like the looks of it as is!

New Year's Day Fun Postponed

Our friends were going to have a New Year's Day party but due to the snow falling here in upstate NY it will be postponed until Sunday. For this party everyone is to bring something NOT Pretty and something Pretty wrapped as gifts for a surprise grab baggy type game. Here's an interesting scenario....what if a gift intended to be NOT Pretty is opened by someone and they like it?

Here is our NOT Pretty offering (cute as heck but NOT Pretty)....

And....keeping with the same mailable item theme here is our 4x6 postcard Pretty offering.......

Happy New Year everyone! May 2008 be a hopeful New Year for us all.