Collage

4 intense collage workshop days later.....the first picture is of my semi-finished project that is a combination of the papers I made using various papers and lutrador. I dyed, stamped, discharged, batiked and painted the papers under the direction of Hollie Heller who does these great etheral, layered paper collages. Of course there is nothing etheral about my work - even if I try and long for that effect it just ain't happening! I described my project as semi-finished because I think I'll cut it up and then sew it up into a quilt. There are some design problems with this piece but re-engineering it might just take care of those issues....we shall see....

A while back I wrote about Steve (my husband) facing another round of layoffs at IBM. Welllll...today was the day and it proved to be his time. We are working on keeping a positive perspective and all the stars are lining up (right now) for him to enter into a nuclear medicine program in Sept. Already having a degree in bio-chemistry enables him to enter this 15 month program without having to take pre-requisite credits. Hooray! For sure the health care field should provide a higher level of security than the high tech field he has been involved with for the past years. Fortunately it is quite impossible to source out medical testing to overseas labor in China. Please wish Steve well...he is a good man.....

Follow the Sun

I do art everyday – either by actually creating something or by mentally envisioning, thinking about and planning the next possible project. I wonder if degrees of passion are what separate dabblers/hobbyists from – well…..others like me. I can’t imagine ignoring my passion. It is all consuming and requires constant attention (and not always my best friend – is a great friend so demanding?). I recently had a few opportunities to be among people interested in art quilting but realized, very quickly, that the dedication I bring to my craft is way out of proportion to theirs. It was quite the eye opener! Yes, Denise….yet another personal trait (quirk) that is important for you to be aware of and monitor appropriately when in the company of others….sigh….sometimes I just feel weird (but wouldn’t change it for the world)…..

4x6 Textile Art

I received this little treasure in the mail yesterday from Deb Lacativa. http://morewgalo.blogspot.com/
A small art quilt is so much more fun than bills, don’t you think? I’m not sure the photo does the piece justice. It’s made of hand dyed cloth that Deb then sprinkle with iridescent paint. Looks luscious in person. Thank you Deb!

The Nature of Things

We live in an area that’s pretty rural and filled with all kinds of wildlife. We have seen bald eagles in our driveway, bobcats, and way too many deer. There is a bear that roams around the area looking for ways to fulfill the 20,000 calories it needs before bedding down for the winter. By the way, wouldn’t it be great – just for awhile – to be able to eat everything with total disregard for caloric or nourishment content? Death by Chocolate here I come.

Anyway, we have a nice sized pond in our backyard that hosts various snakes, turtles, frogs (those bullfrogs do sound like large rubber bands being pulled) and the occasional heron. This year we were also fortunate enough to have a male and female Canadian goose with their 2 offspring. Oh, they were so cute and I would always look for the family early in the morning and the evening. My husband and I enjoyed giving each other daily reports on the little ones' progress.

Then one night the retched coyotes were howling up a storm very close to our house (if you have ever heard this noise you know it is one that will send goosebumps up your spine). The next morning the goose family was gone and I have not seen them since. I'm sure the coyotes got the goslings that were unable to fly, I do not know if the parents were also victims. This has really made me sad and I can’t get the picture of the parents watching their babies being mutilated by these sniveling, lowlife predators. All of nature isn’t beautiful.

Night Lupines

I finished this today. It's acrylic painted fabric, enhanced with thread (lots & lots 'o stitches) and bordered with some of my hand dyed fabric. I am donating it to SAQA for their 12x12 auction. I am very fond of this piece and I hope others feel the same. http://www.saqa.com/newsebulletins/onefootsquaresT.aspx

Good Morning!

I worked a bit more on my art quilt/painting early this morning. I think I’ve fine tuned the painting portion enough to suggest the weeds motif I was seeking. Now it’s ready for threadpainting. I think I’ll deepen the background with darker threads and try to work in hints of vines (how that’s going to be achieved remains to be seen). I envision the weed stalks to remain lightly colored with leaf swirls and – perhaps – some red berry highlights. Chances are I’m not going to be able to work on this for days and days –sigh – since my schedule is ridiculously overcrowded with prior obligations – sigh.

The small bottom piece I stitched together while watching Robert Altman’s movie ‘Prairie Home Companion’ the other night. I enjoyed both the movie (is that Meryl & Lily really singing????) and the quiet stitching time, although I was disappointed the movie never followed through on the tease to have the performers sing a rendition of Amazing Grace.

Happy Friday everyone!

Cotton so fine is feels like silk

Ok...these aren't ironed so the presentation isn't as prepared as it could be...but.....I wanted to share a wonderful gift that was given to me by a dollmaker/folk artist from Maine, http://northdixiedesigns.blogspot.com/

I am now the proud owner of a box full of these shirting cottons of such a fine weave and thread count that they feel like the smoothest silk. I am really seeing an abstract done with these with a great degree of textural quilting. I think these fabrics will help to create a piece that will appear both modern and traditional - my favorite combination!

Thank you so much, Dixie.....